History will be made at this weekend's NAIA Cross Country National Championships when the University of Saint Francis is represented for the first time.
Alex Ebetino, a freshman from Fort Wayne, is the first Cougar - man or woman - to qualify for the national meet on Friday, November 22, at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Washington. The women's race is at 2:30 p.m. EST. She qualified after placing 7th individually at the Crossroads League Championships on November 9.
"Everybody on this team has been very encouraging," "They're all really excited for me. At first, I felt kind of disappointed because they wont' be there. But I'm very proud to represent them and get Saint Francis out there."
"Just talking to her, you see the passion and desire from her to be a really good runner," Corey Birchmeier, Saint Francis men's & women's cross country head coach, says. "She was someone who a lot of coaches didn't look at her as somebody who could get there as a freshman."
Ebetino's trip to nationals is a culmination of a breakout season that included her setting and then breaking the women's school record for the 5,000-meter run (18:51.7), and becoming the first Lady Cougar to earn All-Conference honors. She paced USF to a 4th place-finish at the Crossroads League meet - the women's best finish ever - just missing advancing to nationals as a team.
Not bad for a young lady who casually started running with the Cardeagles (St. John The Baptist New Haven/St. Charles Borromeo Fort Wayne's combined cross country team) as a 7th grader, and found herself towards the bottom of a talented varsity roster at Bishop Dwenger High School. In one year at Saint Francis, Ebertino has cut more than a minute off her personal record. quietly become one of the top runners in the NAIA.
For Saint Francis, Ebetino's success is a good bar for where the men's and women's cross country teams hope to be in coming years. The Lady Cougars rely on strong track seasons to continue to grow the program, and Birchmeier revels in the fact that the entire team will be back next year to try for uncharterted territory.