Rafuse heads to NCAA cross country championships

Purdue Fort Wayne's Emma Rafuse finished seventh at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Friday (Nov. 9) with a time of 20:43.5 to earn a spot at nationals. In the final kilometer, Rafuse passed Indiana's Margaret Allen to grab the seventh spot in the 6K race. Rafuse finished 30.1 seconds behind Alicia Monson from Wisconsin, who came in first with a time of 20:13.4. The two runners coming in fifth and sixth ahead of Rafuse crossed the finish line just 2.4 seconds before with times of 20:41.1 (Annie Fuller, Michigan State) and 20:42.4 (Jacqueline Gaughan, Notre Dame). The Championship meet on Saturday will be another 6,000 meter race. Rafuse best time in a 6K race this season occurred on October 27 at the Summit League Championship, where she stopped the clock at 20:32.9.

10 AGAIN:
Rafuse is the first Mastodon to advance to cross country NCAA nationals since Crystal Martinez in 2008. Martinez finished eighth at the 2008, making Rafuse's seventh-place performance the best in school history at a regional event. Martinez and Rafuse are the only two individuals to ever qualify for cross country nationals in program history. 

MARTINEZ' TIMES:
Martinez finished 177th at the 2008 NCAA Division I Championships with a time of 21:48.2. That same season, Martinez's sister Crystina won the Summit League Championship with a time of 20:54.9.

COMING HOME:
Saturday's championship meet will be held at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisconsin. Rafuse is a native of Greenville, Wisconsin, which is just under two hours away from Madison. This will be the first time the University of Wisconsin will host an NCAA Championship since the 1998 NCAA Women's Golf Championship.