University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Legend Blaase Earns Spot on Team USA for Great Edinburgh Cross Country
December 21, 2017 | Track & Field
VFL Chelsea Blaase finished second in the women's 6K at the 2017 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships
Photo by Brooks Running (@brooksrunning on Twitter)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Former Tennessee track and cross country star Chelsea Blaase has qualified for Team USA and will represent the Red, White and Blue on Jan. 13, 2018, in the Great Edinburgh Cross Country.
Blaase, who was a nine-time All-American and two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American for Tennessee in cross country and track from 2012-17, finished second in the women's open 6K on Saturday at the 2017 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships. Running for Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project, Blaase finished second with a time of 19:49.0. She was the top finisher for Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project, which took home the team title with five runners finishing in the top 25 and combining for 55 points.
The Great Edinburgh Cross Country will take place in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, Scotland, and consists of four separate events and pits the best of Team Great Britain and Northern Ireland against Europe and the USA. Athletes compete across four races: the junior men's 6K, the junior women's 4K, senior men's 8K and senior women's 6K. The overall winning team will be determined by the best aggregate finishing positions of the six best placed athletes in the senior category, as well as the four best placed athletes in the junior races. The event will also see the return of the innovative International Mixed Relay event which will see national teams of four (two men and two women) compete in a 4x1k challenge for the Stewart Cup.
Blaase previously ran for Team USA in July of 2016 when she won gold in the women's 10,000 meters at the IX NACAC U23 Championships in El Salvador. She won with a time of 35:30.87, setting a new NACAC U23 record in the process.
Blaase will graduate from the University of Tennessee this week with a master's degree in kinesiology.
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