EGUENE, Ore. – Heading into this year's NCAA outdoor championships, Wisconsin women's track and field junior Sarah Disanza owned an All-America honor in cross country and indoor track, but had yet to collect one in outdoor track.

That all changed Saturday at Hayward Field as Disanza finished seventh in the 5000 meters in an outdoor personal-best of 15 minutes, 48.51 seconds to earn first-team All-America accolades.

"When a student-athlete lives up to the expectations and responsibility placed upon our program, it is awesome," UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "Sarah competes with heart and a toughness, and that's what it takes to be competitive at this level. I'm very proud of Sarah for fighting back from injury and working hard to race at this high level again.

"The is a testimony to her character and grit."

"I really couldn't be happier with what I've been able to accomplish this year," Disanza said. "It was kind of weird at first when I started getting in some uncharted territory where in previous years I've been able to get to cross country nationals and indoor nationals but this was my first outdoor national championships. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the atmosphere or how the race strategy would be playing out. It was really a great learning experience and I couldn't be happier with how I finished given the training I had prior."

Disanza became the first Badger to earn first-team All-America honors in the outdoor 5000 meters since Gwen Jorgensen placed seventh at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.

Disanza's time also ranks fifth in program history as only Cathy Branta, Kathy Butler, Stephanie Herbst and Katie Ishmael have run faster than Disanza.

"I'm incredibly proud of Sarah's effort today and more importantly her entire year," assistant coach Jill Miller, who oversees the UW women's distance runners, said. "She's stayed patient with the process and learned not just how to get herself back to top form but how to lead our team in such an awesome direction."

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The Wantage, New Jersey, native started towards the back of the pack of 24, but slowly made her way towards the middle at the midway point of the race thanks to a nifty move to the outside.

Disanza remained in in 10th until the bell lap where she started to make a move and moved up to seventh, passing a pair of Oregon runners in the process.

"This was definitely a season of gratitude for me," Disanza said. "My mom was kind of giving me a dose of perspective when I was hanging out with her this weekend. She was reminding me that last summer I didn't run a step. I hadn't actually started running until the beginning of September so coming into this year with no days when I know my competitors were running around 80 miles a week.

"I wasn't really sure what to expect but I couldn't be happier with an All-American finish for this outdoor season."

Disanza now owns a trio of All-America honors as she was second at the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championships and third in the 5000 meters at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships.

In her NCAA championships debut, sophomore Emma Haugen tied for 21st in the high jump thanks to a clearance of 5 feet, 8 inches. The La Grange, Illinois native was close to clearing 5-10, but barely nicked the bar on her final attempt at the height.