Ari Fisher (Lebanon, OH) continued her torrid pace this past weekend at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational, and for her performance, she was awarded the MAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week award for the third time this season.

Fisher has now competed in three races for the Rockets this season, and following each race, she has earned the MAC Runner of the Week distinction for each performance. Her first award came after a solid third-place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational, her second after out-running No. 4 Texas Tech's top runners and taking first in the Richard Clark Invitational, and now her third follows a 13th-place finish at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational, which featured a large number the top programs in the country.

In all three events, Fisher has gone head-to-head with the top levels of competition in the NCAA and has placed herself amongst the best runners in the nation. The 2009 MAC Cross Country champion will next look to retain her title, as the Rockets compete in the MAC Championships on Sat., Oct. 30 in Kalamazoo, Mich.

MAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week
Ari Fisher, Toledo, Junior
Lebanon, Ohio (Lebanon)
NCAA Pre-Nationals - White Race 6K         
Time: 20:37.6      
Ari Fisher continued her success on the course for the Toledo women's cross country team, taking 13th overall in a field of 274 of the nation's top runners and leading the Toledo women to a top-ten finish and an all-time MAC best finish of ninth. The Rocket women beat out several ranked opponents in a very competitive field, including No. 37 Arizona State, No. 27 Florida and No. 31 Harvard. They finished with 342 points, just one point behind the eighth-place NC State and just 31 points behind No. 19 Michigan who finished seventh. The team's 9th place finish is the highest-ever finish by a MAC school at the Pre-NCAA Invitational, besting their previous school and MAC record of 12th in 2002. Fisher finished 13th after leading most of the race, and her top-15 finish was also the best finish since 2002, when Briana Shook earned 10th place.