Berends Earns Second Crossroads League Honor

Crossroads League Release
HARTFORD CITY, Ind. – The Crossroads League announced its weekly awards on Monday, naming Taylor's Alex Berends as its Female Runner of the Week for the second time this season.

Berends won for the second time in as many races to open her collegiate career with a top finish at the Indiana Intercollegiate Little State race on Friday, September 19. Berends won the three-mile race by 43.9 seconds with a time of 17:25 to top 147 other competitors from 20 NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA and JUCO teams and give No. 8 Taylor its second team win in as many events and its first-ever Little State team title.

The times of Berends and TU also ranked favorably with the NCAA Division I marks posted during the Big State race, with Berends' time being faster than all but one of the 50 competitors from six Division I programs to compete in the Big State race. Taylor's team time was also better than the majority of Division I teams in attendance, besting IUPUI, Indiana State, Ball State and Evansville, while trailing only Purdue and Indiana.

Berends is the second Trojan freshman in the last two years to earn weekly honors from the Crossroads League after each of her first two races, with Hannah Schroder also accomplishing the feat to open her collegiate career in 2013.

Berends and the Trojans will have an extended break between competitions, with TU's next race coming on October 11 in Lawrence, Kansas at the NAIA Preview.