FERNDALE, WA – The No. 21 LC State Women’s Cross Country team saw strong performances across the board on Saturday at Western Washington’s Bille Roe Invitational led by another standout run by Damaris Kibiwot. The Warriors finished sixth overall and had five runners in the top 50, including two freshmen who have made an immediate impact.

“Right now, the focus is to continue our training progression, work on our race strategy of trying to be patient and working our way through the field,” coach Mike Collins said. “We’ve got a couple more weeks, then we get to race at home. This was the first match up against some of our conference opponents, so that gives us a good marker to see where we’re at and what we need to do as well. Very proud of our ladies today.”

Kibiwot led the group with a 15^th-place finish on a personal best time of 21:54.2. She was the top NAIA finisher at the meet.

Seniors Camille Ussher and Grace Tiegs continued their consistent seasons as part of LC State’s top three. Ussher finished 31^st in the field of 96 with a time of 23:07.5 and Tiegs was 45^th (23:42.4).

The first-year duo of Eva Lundgren and Kailee Lerew had strong runs for the Warriors to round out the top five. Lundgren placed 46^th in her collegiate debut at 23:47.8 and Lerew was 49^th with a personal best time of 23:56.8.

“Things are starting to come together as we get close to our full roster,” Collins said. “Having Eva in their obviously made a difference today and in her first 6k she came out and really stepped up. Kailee came back in her second 6k with some experience and showed a lot of improvement as well.”

Lilly Gilbert and Leila Flannery each ran a career best in the 6k. Gilbert ran a 25:11.3 to finish 65^th and Flannery was just behind in 66^th (25:13.0). Nuala Rollins finished 71^st (25:47.5) and Haileyann Johnson was 90^th (30:46.9).

UP NEXT

The Warriors host the LC State Invitational at the LC State Cross Country Trail in the Lewiston Orchards on Oct. 11.

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