One of the most accomplished runners in Grove City College and Presidents’ Athletic Conference history, Kristen Carter earned Division III All-America honors and eight individual conference titles during her career from 2005 to 2009.
The Bellingham, Wash., native highlighted her cross country career by earning All-America honors by taking 26th overall at the 2007 NCAA Division III Championships in Northfield, Minn. She also competed at the national championships in both 2006 and 2008.
Carter achieved All-Mideast Region honors in each of her four seasons. She took seventh as a sophomore before earning fifth at the 2007 Mideast Championships. She then finished as regional runner-up at the 2008 Mideast meet in Waynesburg, Pa., helping Grove City place fifth.
As a freshman, she earned All-Region by finishing 34th at the 2005 Mideast Championships. The Wolverines finished fourth at the regional championship, the best regional finish in program history.
Carter won the individual conference championship in each of her final three seasons, earning the league’s Most Valuable Performer award. In 2008, she won the conference title with a Grove City-record time of 21 minutes, 4 seconds. She also earned First Team All-PAC in 2005 after finishing runner-up.
The NCAA recognized Carter with its Sportsmanship Award in honor of Carter’s exemplary actions following the 2007 conference championships.
Grove City won the Presidents’ Athletic Conference women’s cross country title in each of her four seasons.
Carter also won five individual outdoor track and field titles. Her top time of 4:47.75 set the conference record in the 1500 and her time of 17:59.49 also established a conference standard in the 5000. As a senior, Carter provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 10,000.
She credits much of her success to head cross country coach Sean Severson, as well as teammates Callie (Martin) Spaulding, Anna (Butler) Knowles and Julia (Seward) O’Daniel, who were known as the “fantastic four” for the four years they ran together.”
Carter capped her career by winning the College’s Sportswoman of the Year award. Following her collegiate career, Carter qualified for -- and competed in -- the 2012 and 2016 United States Olympic Marathon Trials.
