Vancouver, Wash. – Led by another All-American performance by senior Rachael Dean (Lindenhurst, Ill./Judson University/Lakes), the Saint Xavier University women's cross country team upstaged the team's current national ranking of No. 20 by finishing 16^thoverall out of 32 teams competing at the 2011 NAIA Cross Country National Championships Saturday at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash.  It was the highest ever national finish for the program.  Dean also claimed NAIA All-American honors last season when she finished 12^thoverall at the national meet.  This year, she finished the 5K (5,000 meters) race in 25^thplace out of 323 runners with a time of 18:18.   

Bourbonnais, Ill. – Behind an impressive individual win by senior Rachael Dean (Lindenhurst, Ill./Judson University/Lakes), the No. 20 ranked Saint Xavier University women's cross country team took second place at the 2011 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Cross Country Championships Saturday in Bourbonnais, Ill.  The win helped the team move up one spot in the final NAIA Women's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 Poll to No. 20 and the Cougars were able to secure one of the eight at-large bids to run at the 2011 NAIA Cross Country National Championships on Saturday, November 19, at the Vancouver Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash.  Dean won the conference meet with a time of 18:12 over the 5K (5,000 meters) race.  Freshman Elise Prieto (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) also ran well for SXU finishing in seventh place with a career-best time of 18:49, 45 seconds faster than her previous best. 

Grand Rapids, Mich. – Finishing third overall in a field of 337 runners, senior Rachael Dean (Lindenhurst, Ill./Judson University/Lakes) had a huge race in leading the No. 13 ranked Saint Xavier University women's cross country team to a sixth-place finish at the 33-team NAIA Great Lakes Challenge Cross Country Invitational hosted by Aquinas College (Mich.) Saturday in Grand Rapids, Mich.  Dean finished the 5,000-meter (5K) course in 18:08.29 finishing only behind a pair of runners from Azusa Pacific University (Calif.), the No. 1 ranked team in the NAIA.  With all the teams from the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) present, SXU finished only behind No. 6 Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) in second place.