LEWISTON, ID – Damaris Kibiwot continued to blaze the trail for No. 23 LC State Women’s Cross Country with another record-book run on Saturday at the LC State Invitational. The sophomore ran the second fastest 5k by a sophomore and sixth fastest 5k of all-time in LC State history with a time of 17:44 to lead the Warriors.
The Warrior women finished seventh as a team with 149 points. Two LC State runners finished in the top 50 of the NCAA Division I-heavy 5k meet.
“Sometimes it is hard to evaluate competitions,” coach Mike Collins said. “It is so easy to get caught up in just the results, but in sports like running and cross country, there is only one winner, and everyone else comes after. We have been working very hard on separating the results of our competitions from the process we need to go through to be successful. Although today’s results may not look great, I feel we made some very good progress today.”
Kibiwot was a frontrunner from the start and finished 17th overall in the field. She was the second NAIA runner to cross the line and was 20 seconds faster than her time at the same meet least season.
“The women’s race went out pretty fast up front,” Collins explained. “Damaris probably bit off a little too much at the start and it cost her in the last 1000 meters of the race where she lost some spots. I have no doubt she will learn from that.”
Senior Camille Ussher also ran a personal-best in her final home race with a time of 18:06 to place 23rd. Freshman Kailee Lerew followed in 51st (18:52) and senior Grace Tiegs was just behind her in 53rd (19:01).
“Kailee had a great day and really stepped up and showed that she will be a significant part of our success the rest of the way,” Collins added. “Overall, quite a few PRs today. We need to transfer those into racing at the 6k distance for conference and we should be good to go.”
Eva Lundgren was 57th overall in her first home meet with a time of 19:10 and fellow freshman Nuala Rollins was 67th (19:49). The duo of Lily Bennett (19:59) and Lilly Gilbert (20:05) finished 72nd and 74th, respectively.
“Getting Lily (Bennett) into the lineup for the first time this season was a nice boost,” Collins said. “Her training has been just now starting to ramp up, so we should see her become a bigger factor as we approach the conference meet.”
Leila Flannery ran her third personal-best time of the season to place 82nd with a time of 21:01. Haileyann Johnson ran her final home meet with a time of 24:03 in 87th.
UP NEXT
LC State will split up next week for a pair of meets. Some Warriors will be in Spokane on Friday for the Sasquatch Invitational while others will travel to Michigan to race in the Great Lakes Challenge on Saturday.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
