Women's Cross Country | 11/20/2021 5:09:00 PM
LOUISVILLE, KY – In her first career – and the program's inaugural – appearance in the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championship race at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer National Park on Saturday afternoon, junior Riley Corey earned a top-100 finish.
On a picture-perfect autumn day in Louisville, Corey gave her all against the best Division III runners in the nation. The Waterloo native bounced around the 100th place mark for the first 4,000-meters of the 6,000-meter race, but gave a final push at the 5K mark and finished in 97th place overall. Her final time of 22:26.1 at a 6:02 mile pace was her second-best performance of the year in a 6K, following her golden outing at the Empire 8 Championships on October 30th.
Out of 293 individual competitors, Corey made a statement in her first national championship race by finishing nearly in the top third of competition. She also turned heads of regional competitors, as she placed 99 slots ahead of the next fastest Niagara Region individual qualifier.
"What Riley learned today racing in this crazy, chaotic race will serve her well when she gets back to Cross Country Nationals next year," remarked head coach
Mike Henchen. "Even more promising, is that now that she has experienced one National Championship, she understands what it will take to get to the National Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the coming track & field seasons. Riley is an incredible athlete who performed today like the warrior she is."