LOUISVILLE – Freshman Purity Sanga closed out her extraordinary debut season as a Golden Eagle at the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning.
Sanga placed 217th with a time of 21:48.00, becoming the first-ever Tennessee Tech runner, male or female, to compete at the national championship.
"Purity ran her heart out today. I am so proud of her," said head coach Wayne Angel. "She did her best against some the best runners in America. I'm sure that she gained some valuable experience today. She had one heck of a season."
The championship races were held at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park, a course that Sanga was familiar with after running it at Pre-Nationals in October. Start times were moved up to avoid expected weather coming through the Louisville area.
Sanga also ends her freshman season as the Ohio Valley Conference Women's Freshman of the Year and the eighth different OVC female runner to earn an at-large berth to NCAAs.
