Weber State University women’s track and field star Sarah Callister brought home a gold medal after she represented the United States in the 2012 North American, Central American and Caribbean Under 23 Championships one week ago.
Callister competed in the women’s 10,000-meter race and put up a time of 35 minutes, 46.12 seconds. The WSU athlete won the race and the gold medal with a final time that was 20 seconds higher than that of the second-place competitor. Mayra Sanchez, representing Mexico, finished in secondplace with a time of 36:07:69, and Katie Matthews, also representing the United States, finished in thirdwith a time of 36:21.29. Callister’s gold medal was one of the 23 gold medals the US collected.
The NACAC U-23 is held every two years in one of the 32 countries that belong to the membership of the NACAC Athletic Association. This association is one of six regional athletics associations connected with the International Association of Athletics Federations. The championships took place in Guajajuato, Mexico, this year and are scheduled to take place in Canada in 2014.
Callister will be competing in her final season as a senior at WSU. Last season she was a decorated member of the indoor and outdoor track and field team. She recently qualified for the first round of the NCAA Track and Field Championships in the 10,000-meter and barely missed the cut to advance to the NCAA Championships.
At the Big Sky Conference indoor track championship this year, Callister took first place in both the 5,000- and 10,000-meter events for the third-straight year. She is the first athlete in Big Sky Conference history to win both events for three consecutive years in a row.
Callister also holds many top-10 records at WSU, including the WSU and Big Sky Conference record in the 10,000-meter with a time of 32:51.17.
The track and field star helped the WSU cross-country team win the Big Sky Conference title in the fall of 2011 as she finished fifthin the Big Sky Championships. Callister also earned all-conference honors for cross-country.
Callister is a 4.0-GPA student in the nursing program at WSU and earned Capital One Academic All-American honors for the second-straight season.
