MADISON, Wis. -- To call Shaelyn Sorensen's redshirt freshman season at Wisconsin sensational would be an understatement.

After winning her first two races as a Badger, Sorensen continued her success into postseason competition by finishing seventh at the Big Ten championship and fourth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional to qualify for this 2015 NCAA Cross Country Championship this Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky.

2015 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship
Date	Saturday, Nov. 21 | 11:00 a.m. (CT)
Location	Louisville, Ky. | E.P.Tom Sawyer State Park
Admission	$10
Meet Schedule	Championship Races Women (6K): 11:00 a.m. (ET) Men (10K): 12:00 p.m. (ET)
Course Info	Course Map
Video	Livestream
Meet Info	Meet Info
Results	Live Results
Updates	@BadgerTrackXC on Twitter

Sorensen shined at the Great Lakes Regional, finishing fourth while besting reigning Big Ten champion Erin Finn of Michigan at the Badgers' home course. The Lake Elmo, Minnesota, native led UW to a fourth-place team showing and was one of just 33 freshmen in the country to earn all-region honors.

"I think it went pretty well," Sorensen said. "I felt like I executed the race time pretty well; I sat on people, didn't fight the wind on my own too much, and I was able to use that to my advantage and then get up pretty high.

"I think the team ran a smart race, too, and we all fought really hard at the end."

Sorensen, the 2015 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, is the lone UW representative at the national meet, which begins at 11 a.m. (CT) at E.P Tom Sawyer State Park with the women's 6-kilometer championship race.

"I definitely did not think that my first season was going to go this well," Sorensen said. "My original goals at the beginning of the season were honestly just to make an All-Big Ten team and to maybe get Big Ten Freshman of the Year, but that was going to be the best-case scenario. So the fact that I'm able to do this well in the region as well makes me really happy."

Sorensen paced Wisconsin in all six of its meets this season, and won the Badger Opener and the Iona Meet of Champions to begin her collegiate career. Last season she redshirted for UW and competed for the U.S. at the 2015 IAAF World Junior Cross Country Championship in China.

"The level that she has jumped to so rapidly is just awesome to see," UW Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "She's got a tremendous talent and tremendous confidence. She believes in the system, she believes in her training and that's most of the battle here.

"It'll hopefully give her tremendous confidence moving forward."