TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Virginia Tech runner Tasmin Fanning saved her best cross country race for last, as the senior ended her Hokie cross country career with a third-place finish, covering the 6k course in a career-best time of 19:37.1 on Monday at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.

Fanning gave two of the best cross country runners in the nation all they could handle. The Charlottesville, Va., native finished nine seconds behind the winner, three-time national champion Sally Kipyego from Texas Tech, who finished in 19:28.1, and less than three seconds behind runner-up Susan Kuijken of Florida State, who earned a time of 19:34.9.

“It was one of the finest cross country performances ever for a runner at Virginia Tech,” Tech head coach Ben Thomas said. “She finished within 10 seconds of the top two runners. That is the thing; she is just 21 and running with one of the best 23-year-old runners in the world in Kipyego. It was an outstanding effort running with the best collegiate runners in the nation.”

The third-place effort in the 252-competitor field gives Fanning her second straight All-American honor in cross country, and is the highest finish for a Hokie runner in school history. The previous best on the women’s side was Fanning’s own 12th-place performance in 2007, and the former best finish overall belonged to Steve Taylor, who placed ninth in the men’s race 1987.

“To come as far as she’s come, she has really put us on the map,” Thomas said. “She is a real inspiration for those runners behind her, to see a runner with modest beginnings build something great here.”

Fanning ends her cross country career with the Hokies as one of the most decorated athletes in school history. The Western Albemarle High alum is the only Hokie to earn All-American status twice, capture all-region honors all four years and to compete in three national meets during her tenure at Tech. Fanning finished 77th at the NCAA Championships in 2006 when the Hokies qualified as a squad for the national meet for the first time in program history.

The Washington women took the women’s team title with 79 points, while Oregon won the men’s team crown, earning 93 points. Oregon’s Galen Rupp won the men’s race with a time of 29:04.