CHENEY, WA– Led by sophomore Damaris Kibiwot, the No. 16 LC State Women’s Cross Country team had a successful start the 2025 season with a tie for fourth at the Clash of the Inland Northwest. Kibiwot placed ninth overall in the NCAA Division I-heavy field as the top non-DI finisher.
The Warriors tied for fourth with DIII Whitworth and totaled 130 points with just five runners in the race.
“Damaris had a fabulous day and worked her way up through the field through the entire race,” coach Mike Collins said. “Grace (Tiegs) and Camille (Ussher) also ran well, and I am extremely proud of Nuala (Rollins) and Lilly (Gilbert) in their first races. They came through, especially considering we only had five women that were ready to go today. We have a couple of weeks to continue to prepare before we see our first 6k race, so I know we will be focused. Today’s results might provide some good incentive to buckle down, but we’re really trying to look at the big picture and today is just a few pixels in that picture.”
Kibiwot ran almost 30 seconds faster than last year’s race in Cheney with an impressive time of 14:41.5 to place ninth in a crowd of DI competitors. Camille Ussher finished 31st overall with a personal-best 4k time of 15:33.1, and fellow senior Grace Tiegs was 32nd (15:36.5).
The first-year duo of Nuala Rollins and Lilly Gilbert made their collegiate debuts at the meet and placed in the top 60. Rollins clocked a time of 16:24.2 to finish 47th and Gilbert was 59th (17:10.6).
