2017-18 Great Midwest Female Collegiate Achievement Award Winner
Sarah Berger
Walsh
Cross Country / Track & Field
Wadsworth, OH (Wadsworth HS)
An award-laden collegiate career for Berger comes to a close this weekend as she stakes her claim as one of the decorated student-athletes in conference single season history and in the Walsh archives.
Berger is one of 25 individuals competing at the NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships this week in Charlotte, N.C., in the 1,500-meter run and 5K, but also qualified in several other events.
Berger is chasing an individual national title that would be icing on the cake after earning NCAA All-American honors eight times, including three runner-up finishes.
As a former soccer student-athlete, Berger helped the Walsh women’s program as a defensive anchor as the Cavaliers earned a trip to the GLIAC tourney semifinals in 2016. Since making the full-time transition to running events, she has flourished with the tutelage from head coach Rob Mizicko.
In the fall season alone, Berger was the 2017 Great Midwest Runner of the Year, individual runner-up at the national cross country championships and the USTFCCCA Midwest Region XC Athlete of the Year.
Most recently, she was crowned the USTFCCA Midwest Region Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year after sweeping Great Midwest Women’s Track Athlete of the Meet at the outdoor conference championships and Great Midwest Women’s Track Athlete of the Year.
With Berger currently on the road traveling for competition, the award was accepted on her behalf by Walsh faculty athletic representative Jackie Novak.
Berger has also contributed to the community by volunteering at the Akron Children’s Hospital, Red Cross Organization, Canton Marathon, the Stark County Hunger Task Force food bank and the Can-ton Police Department.
As a major in Biology/Pre-Med at Walsh, Berger graduated with a 3.86 GPA and also registered a 3.91 GPA while minoring in Psychology. She will be enrolled in the Physician Assistant Studies Pro-gram at Grand Valley State University in August.