The Grand View women's cross country team looks to make a jump in the conference rankings this fall after placing fourth at last year's conference championship meet. The Viking women will once again be led by junior All-American Obsie Birru who is coming off an eighth place finish at the NAIA Cross Country National Championships last season. She also won a Drake Relays title at 10,000m and was crowned the NAIA National Champion in the 10,000m run on the track this past spring.

Head Coach Jerry Monner will look for junior Betsy Craig to join Birru as a leader for this year's team. Craig is coming off a very solid sophomore cross country season and was an indoor national qualifier on the track running the lead leg of the Viking's distance medley relay at the NAIA Indoor National Championships and the Drake Relays. Senior Felicia Hoover will also provide experience and leadership to the team this season.

The Vikings will gain depth and experience from four transfer students joining the team. Junior Kara Keller is a transfer from Iowa Central Community College where she was a NJCAA All-American in cross country and was part of Iowa Central's NJCAA National Championship team in 2008 and NJCAA National runner-up team last season. Keller has a personal best 5k time of 19:04 and should make an immediate impact to the Viking's line-up. Junior Sadie Fisher and sophomore Allison McFayden are former teammates transferring from Dana College. Fisher has a personal best 5k performance of 20:30 and McFayden ran a 5k personal best of 21:16 as a freshman last season. DMACC transfer Laura Reichart will be a contributor and give the team depth in the middle of the pack.

Freshman Katie Burt will be making the jump into the college ranks this season transitioning from the 4k race into the 5k distance. Burt is a two-time Iowa Class 2A state qualifier in cross country as she helped North Polk High School to a ninth place team finish in 2008 and a tenth place team finish last season. Junior Maggie Pestotnik will be running her first season of cross country since high school. She has been competing for the Viking track & field team the past two seasons.

The Vikings open the season on September 4^th at the Mustang Gallop hosted by Mount Mercy College. Then they travel to compete in the Luther All-American and the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota. Grand View will then play host to the 6^th Annual Viking Invitational at Ewing Park in Des Moines on Friday, October 1^st. The 2010 postseason will begin on November 6^th at the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships hosted by Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa. The top teams and individuals from the conference championships will then advance to the NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Washington on November 20^th.