Track & Field

Stephanie has already established herself as the most successful female distance runner in Tech history, and should continue to reap the rewards of her hard work and dedication during the 2010 outdoor track season....coming off a year in which she was named Tech's Outstanidng Female Athlete of 2008-09...has competed all of her eligibility in both cross country and indoor track, but will return for the outdoor campaign as a threat to capture conference titles...a record-holder and all-OVC performer, she will concentrate on the 5K and 10K races...has rewritten numerous school records and will continue to threaten those marks in her final season...won the team's Impact Award in the freshman season, an indication of what was to come...owns the 11 fastest cross country times in school history, all set within the last two seasons...holds Tech's three best finishes in the OVC Cross Country Championships with stellar runs in 2006, 07 and 08...also holds school records at 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 meters on the track...stellar in academics...a nine-time selection of the Academic Director's Honor Roll in recognition of strong academic performance...also named Tech's President's Award winner for women's cross country in 2007, 08 and 09...named all-OVC in 2006, 07 and 08...will compete in the 2010 outdoor track season only.

AT TECH - (In 2008-09): Stephanie built on her stellar 2007 cross country perfomance with a record-setting 2008 season...ran in all seven meets and was the team's top runner in each...set a new school record in the 5k race at Evansville, where she was clocked in at 17:34, building upon  the previous records she set in cross country meets the previous year...also had stellar runs at the Sewanee, Tennessee Tech, Vanderbilt, Furman and the OVC meets, in which all her times register in the top ten finishes in school history...clocked in a time at the OVC meet of 18:16.70 to lead the entire field there, the first Tech runner to achieve a first place showing in that meet...achieved a very strong performance at the NCAA South Regional meet, where her time of 21:35 was enough to place her 19th overall...again named OVC Runner of the Week five times...competed in the 3000m and 5000m runs during the spring indoor track season...set a new career-best time in the 3000m of 10:04.39 at the OVC Championships...her time in the 5000m of 17:38.31 was just about two seconds away from a career-best...competed on the distance medley relay team that set the new school-record time of 12:21.09 at the OVC meet with teammates Keri Light, Stephanie Place and Emily Weinzetl...did not compete during the outdoor season due to injury...named to the 2009 CoSIDA Academic All-District IV cross country/track & field team as a second-team selection...named the 2008-09 Tech Outstanding Female Athlete.

(In 2007-08): Stephanie was the team's top runner in every cross country meet as a junior, earning all-OVC first-team honors and placing 42nd in the NCAA Regional...brought down 5k school records twice in the season, before also breaking those in the following season...started the season with a 18:35 showing in the first meet of the season at Sewanee, the first school record in the event since Michelle Kline's time of 18:37 in the 2000 season...best time of the season was an 17:42 effort at the Western Kentucky Old-Timer's Meet, which now stands as the second-best time in school history...also ran times of 17:50 at Furman and 17:51 at the TTU Invitational...chosen five times as the OVC Runner of the Week...the Ohio Valley Conference also chose her as the OVC Runner of the Year after placing third individually at the OVC Women's Cross Country Championships with a time of 18:21.04...had a stellar spring track season, in which she shattered several school records...competed in four indoor events (mile run, 3000m, 5000m, distance medley)...best time in the mile run was at the OVC Championships, where she posted a time of 5:12.70, a close seasonal second-best time...set a new school record in the 3000m at ETSU with a time of 10:13.86...clocked in a time of 17:36.63 in the 5000m at TSU, which registers as another school record...was a participant on the distance medley team which posted a time of 12:28.53 in the OVC Championships...along with her indoor season, she also competed in three outdoor events (3000m, 5000m, 10000m)...placed the squad's best times of the season in each of the three competitions...had a best time of 10:12.58 in the 3000m at TSU...placed a best time in the 5000m at the OVC Championships at 17:05.83, which also stands as another school record...best time in the 10000m was clocked in at the OVC at 37:05.66.

(In 2006-07): Stephanie finished fifth at the 2006 OVC Cross Country Championships, the third-best finish ever recorded by a Tech runner at the women's conference event, earning her first-team all-OVC laurels...she was Tech's top finisher in all seven events during the fall season..began her season with a time of 19:12.73 at Sewanee Invitational to place ninth overall...she placed second overall with a time of 19:38 at Austin Peay the following week, and was 12th at the Vanderbilt Classic with a time of 19:53.21...ran at the head of the pack for a first-place finish at the TTU Invitational with a time of 19:51...ran a stellar race at Evansville, finishing in 10th place with a time of 18:40.32...clocked in a time of 18:49 at the OVC Championships...ran just two events during indoor track season, setting career-best times in both the mike and 3,000m...sensational performance in the spring when she broke school records...set the school mark of 10:08.01 at 3,000m at the TSU Invitational...the following week she established a solid finish in 5K, clocking a 17:07.27 at the Vanderbilt Invitational, then a school record...at the OVC Championships, running the 10K for the first time, she posted a school-record 36:29.64.

(In 2005-06): Placed among the team's top three in every meet as a freshman on her way to winning a share of the team's Impact Award... ran her 5K career-best of 19:45 at the Evansville Invitational, finishing second on the team and 27th overall...raced to fourth place finish at the TTU Invitational in 20:34...finished 45th overall in 20:45 at the OVC Championships...competed in the 800m at Sewanee and ran the mile at the TSU Invitational and OVC Championships...during the outdoor season Stephanie focused on three races (1,500m, 3,000m and 5,000m) and had the team's top times in all three...ran a career-best at Tennessee State with a 10:57.37 at 3,000m...her season-best at 5k was 18:26.58 at Austin Peay...eclipsed her own personal best at 1,500m at the OVC Championsips by clocking a 4:57.15...wrapped up her first season as the winner of the team's Impact Award.

HIGH SCHOOL: A 2005 graduate of Tennessee High School in Bristol, Stephanie earned four letters in cross country for coaches Tom Murrell, Frankie Nunn and Carla Lilly...also lettered four times on the track & field team for coach Andy Arnold...ran career-best times of 2:29 at 800m, 5:36 at 1600m, and 11:52 at 3200m...also ran a 19:17 best in the 3-mile...named all-conference and all-region all four years on the cross country team, she was also the team MVP and an all-state selection as a junior and senior...in her final campaign, she was the conference champion...named all-conference three times on the track & field team.

PERSONAL: The daughter of Scott and Cindy Place...full name is Stephanie Lee Place...born June 9, 1987 in Johnson City, Tenn....earned her degree in nursing.