SAN FRANCISCO – With the fall season behind us, it's time look back at the historic season that was had by the University of San Francisco's women's cross country team. USF garnered program best finishes and rankings at the national and regional championships, with four women earning all-region honors and three receiving all-American honors.

Entering the season, the Dons ranked No. 10 in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's (USTFCCCA) poll, the Dons best regular season ranking, but that wouldn't be the case for very long. In the first two races of the season, USF dominated the competition winning the USF Invitational having four of the first four finishes and tallying 18 points. The second place team, San Jose State, finished with 56 points.

Next, the Dons traveled to Minnesota to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational. Again, USF grabbed the individual and team title, with junior Weronika Pyzik crossing the finish line in first place for the second straight race. Just behind her were teammates senior Charlotte Taylor, sophomore Isabelle Brauer and senior Marie Bouchard. USF tallied 22 points, finishing 50 points ahead of second place Iowa State.

"As a staff, we felt that we had something special in this team last spring after our track season and it became apparent after our dominating performance at the Roy Griak Invitational that we could be a podium team," said USF head coach Helen Lehman-Winters. "Since this meet was not as competitive as it has been in past years, we were a bit under the radar."

With back-to-back first place finishes heading into the third week of the season, all eyes focused on the USTFCCCA national rankings. Having already moved up to No. 8 in the country, it was inevitable for the Dons to continue to rise up the ranks following another convincing performance.  As they did two weeks prior, the Dons moved up another two spots to No. 6 in the USTFCCCA national rankings.

Three weeks after the Roy Griak, the Dons headed back to the Midwest, traveling to Wisconsin for the Nuttycombe Invitational. The Nuttycombe is an incredibly competitive race, where the best teams from all over the country come to compete. With that in mind the Dons put together an impressive race, finishing in second as a team behind eventual NCAA National Champions, New Mexico Lobos. The trio of Charlotte Taylor, Weronika Pyzik and Isabelle Brauer finished in the top-15 and the team tallied 126 points.

"After finishing runner up to New Mexico, we felt confident that we would continue to improve and have a legitimate shot at getting on the podium and even making a run at the title," added Lehman-Winters.

More ranking history would come for the Dons following the performance at the Nuttycombe. The USTFCCCA national rankings, which came out the following week, saw USF move up to the No. 4 spot. This wouldn't be the end of the ranking climbing for the Dons.

As the regular season came to an end, the focus switched to the West Coast Conference Championships. The Bay Area and USF played host to their fellow WCC schools, as the took to the Metropolitan Golf Course in Oakland, Calif. For the third time this season, USF put in a dominant performance that saw them come away with the individual and team title. Taylor left the competition behind, finishing the race in a course record time of 19:10.5, which was 20 seconds ahead of second place, earning All-WCC honors. Joining Taylor on the All-WCC teams were seven fellow Dons: Weronika Pyzik, Isabelle Brauer, Marie Bouchard, Lizzie Bird, Tatjana Schulte, and Lea Meyer (Honorable Mention). The seven total all-conference runners was another program best for the USF women's cross country team.

Two weeks later the Dons headed to Seattle to toe the line at the penultimate race of the season, the NCAA West Regionals. The Dons entered the race at No. 3 in the West Region behind Oregon and Stanford. From the off, Taylor and Boise State's Allie Ostrander were out in front of the pack, trading off first place duties. In the end, Taylor out kicked Ostrander to take home the individual title, her second consecutive individual title. Not far behind were Pyzik and Brauer who finished fourth and seventh respectively. Joining that trio with all-region honors was Marie Bouchard who finished 16th in what was her first major race of the season. The Dons, again, put on a display of their collective dominance garnering 59 points, 17 points lower than second place Stanford.

With the dominance in the West Regional, USF moved up one more spot in the USTFCCCA national rankings, just before the NCAA Nationals, to No. 3, the highest regular season ranking in program history.

Although the forecast in Louisville called for inclement weather for the nationals, Mother Nature held off just long enough to provide the race an overcast setting for the championships. Like she did all season, Taylor got herself into the leading pack and helped push the pace. It was no easy feat given the competitive field, the senior kept the pace and finished third just behind USTFCCCA National Women's Athlete of the Year, Ednah Kurgat of New Mexico, and Washington's Amy-Eloise Neale. Her third-place finish earned her, her second consecutive all-American honor in cross country. Taylor's performance led the Dons to a national runner-up finish to make it their highest finish at nationals and the first podium finish in program history. 

"Going from 28th to 6th to 2nd as a team demonstrates the incredible improvement this team has made over the last three years.  We had a core group- Taylor, Pyzik and Schulte who were members of all three of those teams," said Lehman-Winters. "Then we have added valuable key players the last couple years in Bouchard, Brauer, Meyer and Bird and the end product speaks for itself.  We are so incredibly proud of this entire group and the other nine women on our team who worked so hard toward this common goal."

As a team, the Dons tallied 105 points, the lowest runner-up score since 1997 and lowest since the championship field expanded to 31 total teams in 1998.  Pyzik and Brauer capped off their fantastic seasons with USTFCCCA All-American honors for placing fifth and 15th respectively. Most impressively, for Brauer, she finished the final 2 kilometers of the race with just one shoe, after her shoe got stuck in a wet patch during the race.

"Three All-Americans- not to mention three in the top-15 is a phenomenal accomplishment. Taylor raised the bar last spring with her NCAA title at 10,000 meters," said Lehman-Winters. "Pyzik and Brauer as a result really stepped up their game this fall. We are excited to have both of them back next year as we will take another run at the podium."

In a season filled with historic marks for the women's team, it would be hard to pick out just one moment. But none could stand up to the runner-up finish at nationals.

"It was, of course, special to finally bring the WCC Championship home as we had not won in several years and it was amazing to win the West region defeating cross country powerhouse teams like Stanford, Oregon and Washington," recalled Lehman-Winters. "But, hands down, the highlight of the season was our runner up finish at the NCAA Championships. Competing at your best on the highest stage requires being at your best when it matters most, and this group worked so hard and so cohesively together to achieve at this level."