Louisville, Ky. - Stony Brook cross country junior Christina Melian (Staten Island, N.Y.) will represent the Seawolves Saturday at the NCAA Cross Country Championships at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. The women’s 6K will begin at noon and will be streamed on NCAA.com.

“We started the season with several goals for Christina,” said head coach Andy Ronan. “Win the Conference Championship, qualify for the NCAA Championships and achieve All-American honors at the National Championships. So far she is 2-for-2. Saturday is the day she can achieve the hat trick of goals set.

“There will be 237 of the best female cross country runners in the country on the start line. We have 2 goals … The first is to finish in the top 40 to achieve All-American honors. The latter will be more difficult but I believe achievable if she has a great racing day. That goal is to be in the top 15 and stand on the podium.

“Christina has trained and raced fantastic all season. I expect that Saturday will be no different from a racing standpoint. She is a very savvy competitor that very rarely runs a bad tactical race. Her instincts are usually spot on when it comes to making tactical moves in big races. I feel confident that she will join Jenny Payne, Holly Van Dalen, Lucy Van Dalen and Haley Green as the latest cross country All-American.”

Melian qualified for the NCAA Championships with a third-place finish at the NCAA Northeast Regionals at Franklin Park in Boston. The Seawolf junior has won three races this weekend – the America East Championship Oct. 31, the Battle in Beantown Sept. 25 and Stony Brook Season Opener Sept. 5. Melian has run once on the course in Louisville already this season, finishing 10th at Pre-Nationals Oct. 17.