IU Indy Athletics

Junior cross country runner Rachel Zajac has been picked the IUPUI Sahm's Student-Athlete of the Month for the month of November. The Lake Central-product capped a strong junior year by finishing 51st of 227 runners at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet on Nov. 12, running a 6K time of 21:50.3. Her time broke Brittney McDuffee's existing school record at that distance by nearly nine seconds. In doing so, she became just the second runner in school history to eclipse 22 minutes in a 6K race and beat her previous record by more than 40 seconds.

With Zajac at the top of the line, the Jaguars placed 21st of 33 teams at the meet, marking IUPUI's best postseason finish in the history of the program.

Zajac was IUPUI's top finisher in all six meets this year and was later pegged Team MVP. She ran a season-best 18:39 5K at the Notre Dame Invitational on Sept. 30, marking the quickest by an IUPUI runner this season and later earned Second Team All-Summit League honors at the league's championship meet.