Clarion University junior cross country runner Melissa Terwilliger (Blasdell, NY/Frontier) is getting ready for the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship race being held Nov. 22 in Raleigh, N.C.

Terwilliger qualified for the national meet with a superb fourth-place finish at the NCAA East Region race at Lock Haven Nov. 8 in a time of 22:00. With the fourth-place finish she earned All-Region honors, which she added to her All-PSAC honors that she received the week before by taking third at the PSAC Championships at Bloomsburg in a time of 22:55.

"Melissa was slowed early on in the year by injuries," Clarion’s 10^th-year head coach Pat Mooney said. "But she has slowly but surely gotten back to the point where she is running real well right now."

Terwilliger laid the ground work for her cross country performance this year with solid sophomore campaigns in both cross country and track and field. She was an All-PSAC (sixth place) and All-Region (eighth place) runner in cross country last year while helping Clarion qualify for the NCAA National Meet for the first time in school history. Then in the spring she took third in both the 3,000 and 5,000 at the PSAC Championships before turning in a fifth-place finish at the NCAA’s in the 10,000, which earned her All-American status.

"Mel is a gamer," Mooney said. "She seems to run better as the competition gets better. She really rises to the occasion. She did that last spring, and then she did it again at the PSAC’s and Regionals. Some coaches said they were surprised by her performance. I wasn’t surprised at all. She became our No. 1 runner in those meets."

Terwilliger is hoping for a better outcome at this year’s national meet than at last year’s when she finished 78^th.

"Last year she was our No.1 runner at nationals, but she wasn’t the same runner she is now," Mooney said. "She has gotten better. We expect real improvement this year. Her goal is to be an All-American in cross country."

NOTES: Terwilliger’s performances this year helped Clarion to sixth–place finishes at both the PSAC and Regional races. Last year, Clarion was third and PSAC’s, second at Regionals and 20^th at the NCAA’s.