NCAA Division II Fall Festival Webpage


December 1, 2010 - As the first significant snow fell on Hillsdale Wednesday morning, the Chargers women's cross country team was preparing to leave for the relative warmth of Louisville, Kentucky, to compete in Saturday's NCAA Division II championship meet.

The team is part of the 2010 Fall Festival, an event which takes place just once every four years, and combines the Division II national championships of the sports of volleyball, men's and women's cross country, field hockey, and men's and women's soccer into one location over one weekend. Bellarmine University, located in Louisville, is the host site for all of these championship events.

The Chargers were scheduled to depart Hillsdale at 11 a.m. Wednesday, arriving in Louisville in time for the cross country opening ceremony, scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville. The team will then practice on the course Thursday and Friday before competing in the championship meet on Saturday.


So among this huge group of talented athletes and teams, the Charger women's cross country team finds itself a part of this Olympic Village-type of atmosphere, competing for the national championship as a team for the fourth time. Hillsdale's best previous finish at the NCAA meet was eighth back in 2004. The Chargers previously made trips to the national championships in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

There are 24 teams competing at the women's cross country national meet, which is scheduled to begin at noon at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville. One edge that might go the Chargers' way is, that this is the same course the team competed on back on Nov. 20, when it finished third in the Midwest Regional Meet, thus qualifying for the national meet. The top three teams from each of the eight regions around the country qualify for the national meet as a team.

Sparking that outstanding finish at the regional meet was senior Erin Brunko, who set a new school record with a time of 21:21 to take third overall. Brunko shattered the record of 21:55, set by then-junior Ashley Quick at the 2009 national meet. Quick is a veteran of this stage, as she achieved All-American status as an individual a year ago, and now returns, along with her teammates, to compete for the team championship.

Brunko and Quick were far from alone in stepping up at the ideal time for the Chargers at the regional meet. Amanda Putt shaved 28 seconds off her career-best time - achieved originally at the GLIAC meet - compared to what she ran at regionals. Meissa TenKate ran a 22:57 at the GLIAC meet, but improved that to a career-best time of 22:32 at regionals. Francesca Frasier sliced 12 seconds off her previous best time, and Emily Shelton, the fifth member of the team, has also steadily improved throughout the season.

First-year assistant coach Erin Webster said the team had a clear goal in mind to make it to nationals right from the start of the season.

"Every meet, we have found a way of making progress towards that goal," said Webster, who coaches the women's cross country runners on a day-to-day basis. "The team finished fourth last year, and they had it set in their minds that they wanted to qualify for nationas this year. I am just astounded with the way we've prgressed this year."