Runner finishes 16th in 10K at NCAAs, earns All-America honors

June 8, 2012 | News, UToday
By Paul Helgren



Junior Emma Kertesz gave it everything she had at the end of her race to finish in 16th place and earn second-team All-America honors in the 10,000-meter run at the NCAA Track & Field Championship in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday night.

Emma Kertesz became UT's eighth track All-American in the past 11 years. Here she is shown winning the 2012 MAC Women's Outdoor Most Valuable Performer. She won the same award after the MAC Indoor Championships.

Kertesz finished with a time of 33:54.99, beating out Louisville’s Holly Knight, who came in at 33:57.36, for the final All-America spot.

Kertesz held back in a secondary group for the first 7,000 meters, then began her move toward the front.


”It was a great race. It went exactly as I was hoping it would go,” said Kertesz, who became Toledo’s eighth track All-American in the past 11 years. “It came down to the last 3,000 meters with four of us battling for the 16th spot. I really had to kick in the last lap. It’s the hardest I’ve ever run in my life.”

“It was an incredibly fast race, so Emma really played it smart,” said UT Head Coach Kevin Hadsell. “The first 7,000 meters were tactical, hanging back and waiting for the right time to move. She then ran hard for the next 2,400 meters, picking off some of the runners who had tried to stay in the lead group. Then the last 600 meters was really an all out sprint. She really out-kicked that last runner to get 16th place.”

Texas A&M’s Natosha Rogers won the race with a time of 32:41.63.

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