Gustavus senior Hailey Harren completed her standout career with an 8th place finish at the 2006 NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championship which was run at Voice of America Park in West Chester, Ohio. Harren recorded a time of 23:12 over the 6,000 meter course which was 40 seconds behind overall champion Sarah Zerzan of Willamette.
Harren, who was attempting to become only the third individual in NCAA Division III women’s history to win two individual national titles came up just short of making history. The race was run in very difficult conditions as heavy rains in the West Chester area recently left the course essentially under water.
Harren ran at the front of the pack for the majority of the race and was in second place right behind the eventual champion Sarah Zerzan with 1,000 meters to go, however Harren could not keep up with Zerzan down the stretch and finished eighth 40 seconds behind the champion.
A senior from Cold Spring, Minnesota, Harren becomes only the third runner from Gustavus to earn back-to-back All-America honors following Dana Peterson and Kara Bloomquist in 1994 and 1995. She is the first to ever post back-to-back top 10 finishes.
Middlebury College won the team title at the NCAA Championships as the Panthers finished one point ahead of Amherst.