Women’s cross country team competes at EMU Fall Classic

The University of Toledo women’s cross country team has had a really good couple of weeks.

The Rockets recently launched up the national rankings, all the way to No. 27. After a solid showing at the Adidas Invitational in Wisconsin, where UT defeated six nationally-ranked teams, the Rockets made the jump 16 spots from No. 43.

UT is the only Mid-American Conference team to reach the national rankings this year, and they’re also the fifth highest team in the Midwest behind Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio State.

“It’s national recognition,” said UT head coach Linh Nguyen. “Anytime the university can get national recognition, it’s a positive.”

The past few weeks have been big for the Rockets and they’re looking to continue that success.

Most recently, Toledo competed in the Eastern Michigan University Fall Classic as a tune-up for the MAC Championships. Even without a plethora of top runners, two members of the Rockets’ squad placed in the top 20 at the event.

Junior Sharon Morgan and senior Julia Pusateri followed each other across the finish line, placing 19th and 20th, respectively, out of 115 competitors.

“I feel like we’ve done well the past few weeks building momentum,” said senior runner Liz Weiler. “We’re hoping to be ready to peak at the right time; during the postseason.”

Toledo sat many key team members for the EMU Fall Classic so that they would be fresh for the beginning of the MAC Championships, which kick off next weekend.

“I feel like we had an OK performance,” Nguyen said of the Classic. “Our top nine or ten runners didn’t compete. We wanted to get some of the other runners in there and I felt like we improved from last week.”

The Rockets will now take their dominant finish to the regular season into postseason play.

“We’re confident, we expect to win the MAC,” Weiler said. “Winning the MAC is one step along the way to achieving our other goals.”

One roadblock to UT’s first goal may be the team that hosted the Rockets’ last regular season event.

“Eastern Michigan will be tougher than some of the other teams we’ve faced,” said senior runner Mackenzie Chorjnacky. “We know our abilities and should be fine if we keep doing what we’re doing.”

Confidence and consistency will be key for Toledo this weekend in the Championships. While being ranked nationally is a great measure for past success, UT’s head coach is aware that it won’t determine future triumphs.

“We’re confident, but we’ll have to be on our ‘A’ game,” Linh said. “Personally, the only ranking that matters to me is the result of our last meet.”

The Rockets kick off championship play on Saturday, Nov. 1, in Mount Pleasant, Mich.