Women's Cross Country | 06/21/2019

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Abby Goff joined an exclusive club this fall.
 
In November, Goff became one of just 12 other athletes in College of Saint Benedict history to make it to nationals as an individual in their respective sports as a first year when she qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships. She followed up her collegiate athletics debut with a successful spring with the CSB track and field team.
 
For making it to the highest stage of competition in her first year as a college athlete, Goff is the 2018-19 CSB Rookie of the Year, the department announced Friday. The award wraps up an incredible first season for Goff, a Spokane, Wash., native who competed with both the cross country and track and field teams this year.
 
Goff started her career in CSB athletics with a fourth-place finish at the Twin Cities Twilight in late August, and from there she finished in the top 25 in each of the next three meets. After racing against a competitive field at the Pre-Nationals meet in Oshkosh, Wis., Goff finished 10^th at the MIAC Championships to earn a spot on the All-MIAC team. Two weeks later, she was CSB's top finisher and one of the first seven runners to cross the finish line at the NCAA Central Region meet.
 
That top-seven finish earned Goff a spot at the NCAA Championships on Nov. 17 in Oshkosh. She and teammate Morgan Pierce were the school's first national cross country qualifiers since 2005, and this marked the first time in program history that more than one individual had qualified for nationals in the same year. She is the first CSB first year to qualify for nationals since Allison Kosobud qualified for the NCAA indoor and outdoor track and field championships as a first year in 2014.
 
Not only was Goff one of Saint Benedict's top runners all year, she was also one of the top first-year runners in the MIAC – and the region. Goff's 10^th-place finish at the MIAC Championships marked the best by any first year in the conference. She was the second first year to cross the finish line at the Central Region meet, and she was the 13^th first year to finish at nationals. Of the 279 runners at the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championships, only 42 were first years – and Goff was a part of that talented young club.
 
After an impressive cross country season, Goff showed her potential with the CSB track and field team in the spring. She earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention after taking fifth in the mile at the MIAC Indoor Championships, and she ran the eighth-best 1,500 time and ninth-best 3K time in CSB indoor history. In the outdoor season, she qualified for the conference meet in both the 5K and 1,500, and just missed scoring for her team with a ninth-place finish in the 1,500.