Women's Cross Country | 11/19/2021 12:59:00 PM
Junior Riley Corey of the St. John Fisher College women's cross country team will represent the Empire 8 on the national stage on Saturday, Nov. 20 at the 2021 NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championship at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. The 6,000-meter women's national championship race will begin at noon.
Those who wish to follow Corey virtually every step of the way can do so by following the links below:
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL |
LIVE VIDEO |
LIVE RESULTS
As a freshman, Corey took top-five finishes in three of the nine races she competed in, including a first-place finish at the ESF Mighty Oak Invite's 5K, then turned around the following meet to place third at the Empire 8 Cross Country Championships' 6K. The performance at the conference championship garnered her Empire 8 Rookie of the Year honors – the program's first-ever major award.
Now a junior, Corey has completely re-written history for Fisher women's cross country, after she earned back-to-back recognition as the conference's Runner of the Year. In nine races over the last two seasons, Corey has four first place finishes under her belt – two of which were Empire 8 Championship races – and has finished in no worse than 18th place.
Last week, the Waterloo native put together the greatest performance Fisher has seen at a NCAA Regional race in its history, as she became the Niagara region's top individual national qualifier by crossing the finish line 23:08.0 for fourth place overall. Just a two weeks earlier, she led her team to its second-consecutive team title at the Empire 8 Championships and set a 6K personal best time of 22:04.4 at a mile pace of 5:56 which won her the individual title. The time of 22:04.4 set an Empire 8 Championship meet record over the 6,000-meter distance.
Following some significant rainfall on Wednesday, head coach
Mike Henchen hopes that the last few days of clear skies will have a positive impact on the condition of the course, which would correlate directly to Corey's pace. Currently, the weather forecast in Louisville calls for minimal cloud coverage over the next 24 hours and a high temperature of 51 degrees at race start at 12 P.M. sharp.