Heidi Rocha 2008-09 Cross Country Roster

AS A JUNIOR: Opened the indoor track season with a third-place finish (10:15.24) in the 3,000 meters at the Notre Dame Indoor Opener … clocked a time of 5:14.00 to finish 11th in the mile run at the Notre Dame Invitational … took sixth place in the 3,000-Meter Invitational with a time of 10:05.63 at the Indiana Relays … finished the indoor season with a 14th-place performance (17:34.64) in the 5,000-meter run at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships … won the 5,000-meter run in her first outdoor meet of the season, clocking a time of 17:32.69 to take the title at the Spartan Invitational … ran the 5,000 meters in 17:36.18 to finish third at the Eastern Michigan Invitational … closed out the 2008 season with a 10-place finish in the 10,000-meter run at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships, clocking a time of 36:21.90.

AS A SOPHOMORE: Had a very strong sophomore season for the Irish cross country and track teams … ran on the Irish varsity cross country team in all six of the team[apos]s meets … placed sixth at the Valparaiso Invitational and ninth in the National Catholic meet … ran the Notre Dame home 5,000-meter course in 18:12 for 86th place … took 121st at the very competitive NCAA Pre-National meet … finished 32nd in the BIG EAST meet and closed her season in 30th at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional … annihilated every one of her personal bests during the track season … set two career bests at the Notre Dame Opener … ran the 800 in 2:21.08 and the mile in 5:03.64, the latter qualifying her for the BIG EAST indoor meet … earned additional league meet qualifications in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters … top 3,000-meter time came at the BIG EAST meet where she finished 15th in 9:57.75 … scored team points in the BIG EAST 5,000 meters, placing eighth in 17:04.24 … that time nearly matched the career best of 17:03.97 she set earlier at the Meyo Invitational … ran 4:43.59 over 1,500 meters outdoors at the Central Collegiate Championship … broke 17-minutes for 5,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational, establishing a BIG EAST qualifying mark of 16:59.94 … once again found herself scoring points at a BIG EAST meet, this time finishing seventh in the 5,000 meters in 17:12.90 … her points contributed to the Irish women[apos]s team conference title.

AS A FRESHMAN: Competed in the first three meets of the Irish cross country season … took 30th at the Valparaiso Invitational in 24:46 … placed third in the JV race at the National Catholic Championship, covering the 5,000-meter home course in 19:26 … improved her time on the Irish course two weeks later in the Notre Dame Invitational Gold Division race, running 19:15 for 71st place … showed versatility during the indoor track season, running the mile through the 5,000 meters … top times were 5:24.13 in the mile at the Notre Dame Opener, 10:34.88 in the 3,000 meters at the Notre Dame Invitational and 18:26.94 in the Meyo Invitational 5,000 meters … did not compete during the outdoor track season.

HIGH SCHOOL AND PROFESSIONAL: Four-time letterwinner in both cross country and track and field at Paraclete High School (Calif.) … eight-time all conference athlete (four times in cross country, four times in track and field) … named MVP of cross country team all four years … became first Paraclete High School runner to qualify for California state cross country championship in nearly 15 years, qualifying for the state meet twice … three-year captain of both cross country and track and field teams … named 2005 Paraclete High School Female Athlete of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year… born March 19, 1987 in Bellflower, Calif. … daughter of Linda and Michael Rocha … only child … enrolled in the College of Arts and Letters as an American Studies major.