Dec. 7, 2007

USC freshman runner Sarah Cocco was selected to the Pac-10 Cross Country All-Conference second team it was announced on Nov. 27 by Commissioner Tom Hansen.

Cocco placed 11th at the Pac-10 Championships, the best by a Trojan runner since Iryna Vashchuk took 10th at the 2004 Pac-10 Championships. Cocco's time of 20:30.9 was the best by a USC runner since the Pac-10 Championships went to a 6K race for the 2000 season, besting Vashchuk's time of 21:17 in 2004.

One of the main reasons for optimism in the USC cross country program has to be Cocco and the fact that all but one of USC's top runners (senior Laura Meyers), was either a freshman or sophomore.

Cocco won her only two regular season races of her collegiate career, capturing the the Aztec Invitational with a time of 17:43, the best time in a 5K race by a Trojan since 1998 and then winning the Pepperdine Invitational with a school-record 6K time of 20:00.

Cocco then went on to place 18th at the NCAA West Regional with a time of 20:57.25 and earn an invitation to the NCAA Championships. She did not run at the NCAA Finals as coach Tom Walsh held her out due to the illness she battled during the NCAA West race. She did become, however, the first freshman and sixth individual Trojan runner to qualify for the NCAA Championships, the last being Iryna Vashchuk in both 2003 and 2004.