TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Tasmin Fanning placed 12^th out of 255 runners at the NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships on Monday at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind. Fanning completed the 6k course in 20:32.

After a 77^th-place finish in last season's NCAA Championships with a 6k time of 21:55, the junior from Charlottesville, Va., benefited from experience and saved her best effort for the later stages of the race.

"[Tasmin] ran a really good race," head coach Ben Thomas said. "She kept improving her position in the field as the race wore on. She was 27^th at the 2k mark, improved to 17^th at 4k, and then kicked it into high gear during the final 2k to move into 12^th position."

Already a three-time All-Southeast Region performer, Fanning earned All-American honors in cross country for the first time in her career by registering the highest individual finish at the women's national meet in school history. This is the second All-American honor for Fanning, as she earned her first honor in track & field as part of the 2007 indoor distance medley relay.

"It's really a very difficult thing to accomplish," Thomas said of racing in a field composed of the 255 top runners in the country. "It's unlike a lot of other sports because you're directly competing against the best in the nation. [Tasmin] ran a brilliant race and finished strong at the end."

Fanning is the fourth woman in school history to earn All-American recognition in cross country. Marlies Overbeeke earned the honor in 2003, while Lori McKee (Taylor) and Tracy Deely were named All-Americans in 1981.

This season, Fanning took first place at three of the seven events in which she ran, and was Tech's highest finisher in six of those meets, highlighted by a third-place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional after completing 6k in 20:05.05.

"It was really a good finish to the season, not only for Tasmin, but for us as a program as well," Thomas said. "After being disappointed at regionals, we were really happy to have some success at nationals."

Complete results can be found at http://www.gosycamores.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15200&ATCLID=1322200.