Cross country takes to the course Saturday for its MAC championship in Bowling Green, Ohio, and sophomore Leah Raffety is a Huskie who could have a breakout tournament.

Since Raffety was the first Huskie finisher and overall champion of the season opener, the NIU Open, she has flown under the radar and been a top three or four NIU finisher.

Some blame could be placed on the Huskies having two 6K’s on their schedule. Raffety competed in two tournaments her freshman year but both were 5K’s. Raffety said she approached and executed the Bradley Classic 6K better than the Roy Griak.

“It was hard to know how to race it, I was too conservative from the start,” Raffety said. “I went to Bradley and raced more with Ali [Olson], so that kind of helped me gain confidence knowing I can make an extra K without too much problems.”

This year Raffety has been one of the runners toward the front of the pack during practice and tournaments, but the longer races have been challenging for her.

“The 6K is still new to her,” said head coach Greg Hipp. “She has only ran two 6K’s in her career. The first one was a little rough — the Roy Griak — but the second one was a good improvement, and I think as she is learning that event and becoming more confident at it … we will see her be ready for putting in a more meaningful contribution to the team.”

Raffety agreed that the Roy Griak was a tough one for her and the Huskies.

“The Griak was kind of rough for all of us,” Raffety said. “And then at Bradley we all turned around. I was definitely happy about my last 6K time, but looking to improve on it, though. I’d like to get around 22:00 flat.”

With two 6K’s under her belt, Raffety’s time to shine might be when NIU travels to Ohio for the conference tournament.

“Her training has been really good. Leah is ready for a good race,” Hipp said. “It has been a gradual progression and race confidence … getting to where she can match her training with her racing. I think that confidence is building, and I think Leah proved her run at Bradley was a good step toward that. I feel confident that she is ready for another one and be a sub-22-minute 6K girl.”

Raffety’s running mate throughout the season has been Ali Olson. Olson agrees this could be the race Raffety is primed for.

“She has been looking really strong in her workouts and everything,” Olson said. “I definitely think she is ready for a breakout run here coming up. I think she will definitely have a good performance here this next 6K.”

NIU will travel to compete in the MAC Championship at 11 a.m. Saturday at Bowling Green.