ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Prior to Saturday morning, only three different individuals from the College of Saint Benedict cross country team had ever qualified for the NCAA National Championships. Saturday, that number nearly doubled.
First year Abby Goff and senior Morgan Pierce both finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Central Region Meet to qualify as individuals for the 2018 national meet. They are just the fourth and fifth runners from Saint Benedict to qualify as individuals. For their big performances Saturday, Goff and Pierce are this week’s CSB Athletes of the Week.
The duo are CSB’s first national qualifiers since 2005, and they join Katy Diegnan, Missy Petersen and Leah Wurm as the school’s only five cross country runners to qualify as individuals for the national meet. Diegnan qualified in 1991 and 1992, Petersen each year from 1994-96 and Wurm in 2002, 2004 and 2005.
Goff had a career day Saturday morning, and – for the first time all season – finished ahead of Pierce. She took seventh at the region meet in 22:26.2, the fourth-best time in CSB history and a personal best of more than 30 seconds. Pierce finished eighth just over a second behind Goff in 22:27.8.
The national meet with put a cap on a stellar season for both athletes. Pierce – who won the MIAC Championship in late October – has finished in the top 20 in all seven meets she has competed in this season, and in the top 10 in six of the seven. Goff – who took 10
th to earn All-MIAC honors at the conference meet – has six top-25 finishes under her belt in her first season with the program.
The duo has some experience against a nationally ranked field this season as both ran at the Pre-Nationals Invite hosted by UW-Oshkosh in mid-October. That race – which featured 17 teams ranked in the top 35 in Division III – was held at the same course where Saturday’s national meet will be run at Lake Breeze Golf Course in Oshkosh, Wis. Pierce finished 20
th and Goff took 73
rd amidst the nationally ranked competition.
Goff and Pierce will see some familiar faces at the national meet. The Carleton women qualified as a team after a top-two finish at the region meet, and St. Olaf qualified two individual runners and Bethel will have one individual competing.
