For the second time this year, Oswego State cross-country runner Rachel Sanborn has been awarded the Oswego State Athlete of the Week honor for her achievement as a runner.

Sanborn, a global and international studies major from Grahamsville, N.Y., has been accomplished a lot in her freshman year, but success started when she began running cross country in seventh grade. One of her high school career highlights was when she ran the 5k in a time of 19:30.

Her high school career also gave Sanborn one of her most memorable cross country moments. During a state competition her team ended up losing by one point, but she qualified second and said that she has never had to run as hard since that meet.

Not everything went as smoothly, though. Last year she was injured and had to sit out the entire season. This year, Sanborn is back to running and gaining awards in her Oswego State career. So far this season, Sanborn has said that the season has been more of a challenge than she thought it was going to be, but that hasn’t slowed her down yet.

Recently, Sanborn posted a 29th place finish at the 2009 SUNYAC Cross Country Championships. Achieving the highest Laker women’s finish since 2004. During the race at the Geneseo Invitational, she recorded a time of 24:11 in the 6k race. That time was good enough to be the fourth best time in Oswego State’s history.

Even with all of these achievements, the one that stands out the most to Sanborn is that she has led the team in every race she has run. However, Sanborn still has a goal that she would like to accomplish before her time at Oswego State is up.

"I would like to break into the top three fastest times for the 6k," Sanborn said.

Only a freshman, there is plenty of time for Sanborn to accomplish her goal. The next cross country race is the NCAA Division III Atlantic Regional hosted by SUNY Geneseo on Nov. 14 at 11:00 a.m.