Sara Raschiatore Earns All-America Honors at NCAA Cross Country Championships

IUP senior Sara Raschiatore finished in 11th place to earn All-America honors for the third time in her career at the NCAA Division II cross country national meet in Ashland, Ohio.

Raschiatore, who won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and East Region meets earlier this month, covered the 6,000-meter distance in a time of 22:23.  The Leechburg native and Kiski Area High School graduate was running with a slight stress fracture in her left shin.

As a team, IUP finished in 12th place out of 24 teams with a total of 292 points.  The Indians were just one point out of 11th and only five points from a top 10 finish.  Western State won the team championship, edging out Adams State by three points.

Raschiatore was followed individually by Indiana High School graduate Jessica Pentz (42nd, 23:06), Becky Bullard (60th, 23:29) and Jessica Steck (84th, 23:48).  A total of 184 runners competed in the race.

Rounding out the IUP competitors were United High School graduate Meaghan Strong (152nd, 24:48), Jen Locke (159th, 25:05) and Sarah Wygant (167th, 25:40).

IUP also earned a pair of regional awards which were presented over the weekend.  Raschiatore was chosen the athlete of the year for the East Region while Ed Fry claimed coach of the year honors for his work with the IUP women's team.