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Akbar Runs to 60th Place at NCAA Cross Country Meet
AU senior concludes outstanding season

Samia Akbar placed 60th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships

November 25, 2002 | Meet Results

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — American University senior Samia Akbar (Herndon, Va./Oakton) ran her fastest time ever for 6000-meters in the NCAA Cross Country Championships, running 20:55.5 to place 60th in the meet.

In a meet with 254 runners, Akbar ran very well to finish among the top 25 percent of the athletes. In a tightly packed race, Akbar was among 15 runners that finished within 10 seconds of each other. Her previous best time for 6 km was set at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional where she covered the distance in 21:03.1. The winner of the meet was North Carolina's Shalane Flanagan who ran 19:36.0. Akbar's 60th place finish is the best finish ever by a Patriot League woman at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Akbar's performance at the NCAA Championships caps an incredible senior season for her. She was the Patriot League Runner of the Meet at the Patriot League Championships as the women’s cross country team captured the team title and Akbar claimed the individual crown. Akbar has been named ECAC Performer of the Week three times as well as Patriot League Runner of the Week three times. She qualified for the NCAA meet by placing fifth at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet. Her fifth place finish there earned her All-Region honors for the second consecutive season.

Akbar is the first AU female runner to compete at the NCAA Championships. She qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track Championships provisionally last season, and looks to continue her successful career as the indoor track season begins in December.

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, is in its second year of membership in the Patriot League. Since joining the Patriot League, the University has captured league championships in men’s cross country, women’s cross country, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball, and regular-season titles in men’s basketball and women’s lacrosse.

Chartered by an Act of Congress in 1893, American University features students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 160 nations worldwide.