Sara Sutherland

Height:
5-3
Class:
Graduate Student
Hometown:
Dallas, Texas
High School:
Highland Park

PERSONAL BESTS
INDOOR
3,000-Meters: 9:18.67
5,000-Meters: 15:50.04
OUTDOOR
800-Meters: 2:10.67
1,500-Meters: 4:11.06
5,000-Meters: 16:04.15
10,000-Meters: 34:28.07

PAC-12 SCORING
2015 1,500 Meter Run, 2nd (4:13.56)

NCAA SCORING
2015 1,500 Meter Run, 3rd (4:13.48)

HONORS
2015 First Team 1,500 All-American
2015 World University Games participant

2015: Indoor: Did not compete.
Outdoor: Sutherland only had one outdoor season of eligibility to compete for the Buffs, but she made it count, becoming the fourth fastest 1,500-meter Buff of all-time. Things really started to click for Sutherland as the postseason came around. At the Pac-12 Championships, she was ninth in the prelims of the 1,500 and went on to take second in the finals with a then-personal best of 4:13.56. Sutherland moved on to the NCAA West Prelims and again recorded a runner-up finish (4:13.95) to qualify for the NCAA Championships. During the prelims at nationals, Sutherland was third (4:16.94). In the finals, she again took third, this time with another PR of 4:13.48. Sutherland took to the track the following day at the Portland Track Festival and again lowered her PR, this time to 4:11.06. Overall that time ranks sixth on CU’s all-time list and put her fourth on CU’s all-time performers list behind three Olympians, Jenny Simpson, Emma Coburn and Shayne Culpepper. Sutherland went on to race at the World University Games in South Korea, but she switched gears to the 5,000. She ran 16:34.49 in the prelims (10^th overall) to advance to the finals where she clocked a time of 16:06.94 for a fifth place finish.

CROSS COUNTRY: (2014) Sutherland raced four times for CU. She started off by placing 221^st at NCAA Pre-Nationals and improved to 73^rd at the Pac-12 Championships. Sutherland made more progress at regionals, this time placing ninth as CU’s third finisher. She earned her first All-Mountain Region honor and helped the Buffs to the team title. Sutherland completed the season at NCAAs with a 96^th place finish, scoring as the Buffs No. 5 runner. The Buffs finished seventh overall as a team.

AT TEXAS (TRACK & FIELD): Sutherland was a three-time indoor All-American at Texas, twice on the first team and once on the second team. She also earned All-Big 12 honors nine times during her time at UT, four during the outdoor season and five times indoors. Sutherland is the Texas indoor 5k record holder, clocking in at 15:50.04 at the 2013 NCAA Indoor Championship for an eighth place finish. She won the individual Big 12 1,500-meter title in 2013 (4:22.87) and placed fourth in the 5k at the same meet (16:18.62). During the 2013 indoor season, she was a member of the Big 12 Champion distance medley relay team, which finished in 11:15.90.

AT TEXAS (CROSS COUNTRY): Sutherland raced three seasons at Texas, redshirting the 2013 season. As a junior in 2012, she led the Longhorns at three meets, including a third-place finish at the Big 12 Championships. Sutherland was the runner-up at the NCAA South Central Region Championship and finished 58th overall at the NCAA Championships. In 2011, she led the Longhorns at NCAAs, crossing the finish 96th overall. Sutherland was fourth at regionals and finished 11th at the Big 12 Championships that season. During her freshman year, she was ninth at regionals, 34th at Big 12s and 155th at NCAAs. Sutherland earned two All-Big 12 and three all-region honors at UT.

HIGH SCHOOL: Sutherland was a four-year letterwinner in cross country and track and field at Highland Park, competing in the 1,600 and 3,200. Sutherland was named the Newcomer of the Year in 2006 by the Dallas Morning News and the Cross Country Runner of the Year in 2007 after winning the Texas 4A Cross Country Championship. In 2009, she was named the Texas Girls Coaches Association Cross Country Athlete of the Year.

IN THE CLASSROOM: Sutherland is in graduate school and looks to get her master’s in sciences in interdisciplinary communications and technology for development. She graduated from Texas with a degree in government.

PERSONAL: Sara Sutherland was born January 31, 1992 in Dallas, Texas. She is the daughter of Carl and Carol Sutherland and has two brothers, Lee and Dan. Dan was a member of the track and field team at Rhodes College. She enjoys nutrition, playing the harmonica and reading. Sutherland volunteered with Feed My People, a homeless ministry, Girls on the Run, and Reading is Fundamental; all in Austin, Texas.