For the next 30 days, UC Irvine Athletics will highlight top individual performances of the 2019-20 academic year presented by UCI Health.
Hannah Chau
Women's Cross Country/Sophomore
November 2, 2019
Sophomore
Hannah Chau led the UC Irvine women's cross country team at the 2019 Big West Championships, earning all-conference honors with a fifth-place individual finish.
Chau covered the 6000-meter championship course at UC Riverside in 20:51.9. It was her second-best 6K time as she ran a personal-record 20:44.5 on the same course at the UCR Invitational in September. It was her fourth top-10 showing in five races, and her third consecutive top-five finish.
Chau was the Anteaters' first All-Big West performer in women's cross country since 2008.
"This race was a real breakthrough for Hannah as she showed she is capable of running with anyone our conference has to offer," said UCI distance coach
Casey Kear. "When the race went out extremely fast she showed incredible poise and was patient as she methodically moved up several spots in those middle miles to get within striking distance of the lead pack. She was where she needed to be when the race really separated. Something we had been working on all year was trying to get Hannah to trust her finishing speed and believe that she can really kick down the stretch. Coming off the last turn she had three runners right with her that on paper all have more "leg speed" than her yet she was able to hold them all off and finish fifth overall. To have our first all-conference finish since 2008 was a big step for our program and her individual progress, and she has even bigger goals for the years ahead."
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