From Dec. 23 - Jan. 1, Kevin Hadsell, the director of track & field and cross country, shares with utrockets.com his list of the Top-10 cross country and track memories of the last 10 years. Hadsell is in his 12th year as the head men's and women's cross country coach and has guided the women's track team since 2004.

After having been nationally-ranked in the NCAA Division I Women's Cross Country Poll every year from 2000-04, the Rockets went four years without making an appearance on the national scene. However, in the fall of 2009, led by an amazing improvement by sophomore Ari Fisher (Lebanon, OH), the Rockets established themselves, once again, as one of the top teams in the country. 

Fisher, who had never made the Rockets' top-seven, made a significant leap in her abilities over the previous six months leading to the cross country season, developing into one of the top women's distance runners in the country.

The Rockets opened the season with a dominant dual meet win over Bowling Green in September. Toledo ran only its freshmen and sophomores in the race against the full varsity team from Bowling Green. The Rocket underclassmen, led by Fisher, swept the top-five spots in the race on their way to a perfect score over the Falcons on the Rockets' home cross country course.

Following that dominant victory, the team took a three week break from competition, to concentrate on training, and traveled to the William and Mary Colonial Inter-Regional Challenge. The competition included host school and traditional national qualifier William and Mary as well as Navy, the defending Patriot League Champions. Once again led by Fisher's individual title, the Rockets placed all five runners in the top-10 and dominated the field to win with a score of only 28 points.

At that point, the Rockets returned to the national rankings and became one of the favorites to win the Mid-American Conference title.

Fisher went on to become the fourth Mid-American Conference Champion in the last 10 years. She was named MAC Runner of the Year and went on to finish 43rd at the NCAA Championships, only two seconds from being named All-American. The Rockets were narrowly edged at the MAC Championships by Miami (Ohio), but the Rockets battled back and dominated the Redhawks at the NCAA Regional Championships. 

Toledo finished sixth out of 34 teams at the NCAA Regionals, only a few points behind fifth-place Michigan State, who finished 26th at the NCAA Championships. The Rockets were one of the most-improved programs in the country, as Toledo went from 19th place at the 2008 NCAA Regional to 6th in 2009 with all the same runners.

Fisher has established herself as one of the most-improved runners in the country, going from never earning a varsity letter to becoming a top-50 finisher at the NCAA Championships. In December, Fisher capped off the fall semester with a 16:48 showing in the 5000-meters, which is the fastest-time in the country so far this season.

“In looking over the last ten years, it was hard to narrow down 10 of the top moments and performances," Hadsell said. "However, one thing that kept popping into my head was this amazing jump by Ari and the jump the entire program has made in one year. “We return all but one of the top-10 women on the team, so we are looking forward to 2010.”