The meet gets underway at 5 p.m. Friday at Loftus Sports Center.
2012 Cross Country Season:Turned in a strong second cross country season, competing in five meets including the BIG EAST and NCAA Championship races ... finished second on the team and 97th overall out of 253 runners on the 6K course at the NCAA Championship (20:47.3) as the Irish took 15th out of 31 teams ... took 21st out of 126 runners on the 6K course at the BIG EAST Championship (21:36) to help the Irish finish 5th out of 15 teams ... opened year with fifth place showing out of 266 runners on the 5K course at the National Catholic Championship (17:26.1) ... placed 24th out of 145 runners in the 5K blue race at the Notre Dame Invitational (17:11) ... closed out regular season with a 6K time of 20:57 at the Wisconsin Invitational to finish 127th out of 327 runners.
AS A FRESHMAN: Improved steadily throughout the year to become one of the Irish's top runners ... ran in all seven races, culminating in earning all-region accolades after placing 13th out of 227 runners at the 6K NCAA Great Lakes Regional (20:54.4) ... took 31st out of 138 runners at the 6K BIG EAST Championships (21:12.6) ... also competed for the Irish at the 6K NCAA National Championships (21:14.8) ... opened year with a fifth place finish out of 81 runners at the 5K Crusader Invitational (18:32.4) ... other 5K finishes included 27th out of 272 runners at the National Catholic Championships (18:26) and 30th out of 75 runners in the JV race at the Notre Dame Invitational (19:09) ... concluded preparations for the conference meet with a 31st place finish out of 108 runners in the 6K "B" race at the Wisconsin Invitational (22:09.1) ... earned a cross country monogram ... participated in five indoor/outdoor meets for the Irish on the year ... placed second at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships in the 10,000m run (34:44.31) to earn an all-BIG EAST citation ... ran to a fourth-place finish at the Polytan Invitational in the 5,000 run (16:48.01) ... finished seventh in the 10,000m run out of a 38 person field at the Stanford Invitational (33:56.86) ... participated in the NCAA East Preliminary Round in the 10,000m run, finishing 17th (35:07.02) ... named a BIG EAST Academic All-Star ... earned a track and field monogram.
HIGH SCHOOL AND PERSONAL: Graduated from Larry A Ryle High School in the spring of 2011 ... lettered in cross country and track and field all four years ... routinely won conference, sectional and regional championships in both sports throughout career and also was named all-conference, all-city, all-region, all-county and all-state throughout career ... was state runner-up two years in a row ... lengthy awards list includes team MVP, team captain, 100% award, outstanding female athlete, runner of the year, Beef O'Brady's Athlete of the Week, all-state team, academic all-state team, Sportswoman of the Year ... was school's Valedictorian ... participated in National Honor Society and won academic awards such as Outstanding Science Award and the National Scholastic Writing Contest Golden Key and Silver ... also participated in the FCCLA, FBLA, Student Council, Hispanic Honor Society, Math Honor Society, Science Honor Society and the English Honor Society ... born in Austin, Texas to Caesar and Christina Gonzales ... has a younger sister Emily and a younger brother Caesar ... enrolled in the College of Science and majoring in biological sciences..
