The College of Saint Benedict cross country team saw some history individual performances in 2018 thanks to a veteran runner and one rookie runner.

For the first time in program history, CSB had not one but two runners competing as individuals at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. First year Abby Goff and senior Morgan Pierce took seventh and eighth, respectively, at the NCAA Central Region Meet to earn spots at the national championships.

The duo are the first national qualifiers for the CSB cross country program since 2005, and join an exclusive list of just three other national qualifiers. Pierce took 99^th at nationals and Goff finished 134^th.

Prior to the region meet, Pierce made history on her own by becoming just the second MIAC Cross Country Champion in Saint Benedict history. She won the 2018 MIAC title and was named the MIAC Cross Country Runner of the Year – CSB’s first (and only) since 2004. Goff took 10^th at the conference meet. Both Goff and Pierce ran 6K times in the top four in program history in 2018.

Both Pierce and Goff earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors at the end of the season, and the team earned the honor for the 23^rd straight year.

At the team’s year-end banquet, Pierce was named MVP, Sarah Carney and Jena Wachowiak shared Most-Improved honors and Goff on the Bennie Warrior Award. Goff was named CSB’s Rookie of the Year at the end of the 2018-19 school year.