Georgia State University Athletics

Former Samford University cross country and track and field All-American Lauren Blankenship enters her second season at Georgia State.

Blankenship works as an assistant coach for both men’s and women’s cross country and the track distance runners.

In her first season with the cross country program Blankenship helped the cross country squad to a pair of season-opening victories at the Strut’s JSU Opener and the GSU Invitational.

In track and field, sophomore Katharine Showalter earned All-CAA honors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as part of a women’s team which won the conference title.

An Atlanta native, Blankenship came to Georgia State in 2010 after one year as assistant cross country and track and field coach at the University of Mississippi.

During her impressive collegiate career at Samford, Blankenship won three Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championships and three OVC Runner of the Year awards.

A three-time qualifier for the NCAA Cross Country National Championships, she earned All-American honors as a senior in 2007 after finishing 24th.

In track and field, she was a three-time OVC indoor champion each in the 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs, a four-time OVC outdoor champion in the 5,000 and a two-time OVC Outdoor Champion in the 10,000-meter run.

Blankenship qualified for the NCAA Outdoor National Championships for 5,000-meters and won All-American honors as a sophomore in 2006 and again as a senior in 2008.

Described as the “Most Decorated Student-Athlete in Samford History” by SamfordSports.com, Blankenship owns several Bulldog records in the three sports including the 5K in cross country, the 3,000, 5,000 and distance medley relay in indoor track & field and in the mile, 3,000, 5,000, 10,000 and the 4x800, 4x1,500 and distance medley relays.

Blankenship graduated from Samford in the spring of 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in family studies and started work towards a master’s in nutrition and food services while at Ole Miss.

While at Ole Miss, Blankenship was the head of recruitment for the distance runners and helped coach Rebels’ great Barnabus Kirui, the 2009 Southeastern Conference cross country champion who finished fourth at the NCAA National Championships.

Before working at Ole Miss, Blankenship spent a year at her alma mater serving as an assistant cross country and track and field coach. She also planned all team travel arrangements for the Bulldogs and created Samford’s Cross Country and Track and Field monthly newsletter.

At Samford, Blankenship helped lead the women’s team to a second-place finish at the 2008 Southern Conference (SoCon) Cross Country Championships, while the men finished in fourth place. The Bulldogs had three women’s distance event track and field individual champions at the 2009 SoCon Outdoor Track and Field Championships.