Junior Karissa Schweizer, Missouri’s top women’s cross-country runner, grew up in a running family.
Her grandfather, Frank, was a Division II All-American runner at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Her parents, Mike and Kathy Schweizer, met at MNSU and were also All-Americans. Her brother, Ryan, runs for Notre Dame, and her younger sister, Kelsey, is a high school freshman running for Karissa’s alma mater, Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa.
For many high school runners, all the dinner-table talk about running might be overwhelming — but not for Schweizer.
“She never felt that way,” said James Kirby, Schweizer’s high school cross-country coach at Dowling Catholic.