Hillsboro, Kan. - Tabor College senior cross country runner Christina Addison (Valley Center, Kan.) earned All-KCAC honors and in the process punched her ticket to the 2009 NAIA National Cross Country Meet this past Saturday at the KCAC Conference Meet held at Lake Afton Park in Goddard, Kan.

Addison, who finished the 5-kilometer coursein ninth place overall with a time of 19:25, passed two women with less then 150 meters to go to claim the final spot for the national meet.

"I had been telling her that I thought it was going to take around 19:30 to get one of the five automatic individual spots for nationals, and that I thought the workouts she had been doing were proof that she was capable of running that fast," said Head Coach Dan Swaney.

"She decided to go out with the lead pack to get in position and try to hang on to it. She did just that and with a little over a quarter mile to go she was the seventh individual with two women from Bethany about 10 meters in front of her. After passing them both and getting passed back again, it came down to the kick, which worried me since Christina isn't known for her kick. But I think she realized that it was do or die, so she went for it.

"She accelerated so much that she blew past them both and even though she only beat the closest of the two by less than a second there was a definite gap because of the speed that they were running," Swaney added. "It was incredible to watch. All I could do was whoop and holler running along the course behind her."

Addison's time of 19:25 was not only a 36-second season's best, it was also a 26-second Tabor best. Freshman Erin Flaming (Denver, Colo.) set a personal recorded with a time of 21:03 finishing in 28^th place, while senior Leah Kopper (Garden City, Kan.) also set a personal recorded finishing in 33^rd place with a time of 21:22.

Addison will compete at the 2009 NAIA National Meet, to beheld at Vancouver, Wash. on Saturday Nov. 21.