SPRINGFIELD, Ore. –
University of Idaho sophomore Hannah Kiser was the headliner as the Vandal
men's and women's cross country teams made impressive showings for the third
meet in a row on Saturday at the Dellinger Invitational.
Kiser won the women's 5000m race at the meet with a time of 16:45.71
to maintain her undefeated record in 2011 against collegiate competition. More
impressive than the time is the fact that she out-kicked a group that includes
nationally- and regionally-ranked opponents.
“I was kind of just waiting for everyone to kick past me and
it didn't happen, didn't happen,” Kiser said about the finish in a post-race
interview. “My coach (Wayne Phipps) was screaming at me like never before.”
As a team, the Idaho women took fifth with a team score of
131, behind nationally-ranked Oregon and regionally-ranked Wisconsin, Oregon
State and Portland. As a team, Idaho put five runners in the top 46 of the
95-competitor field.
For the second meet in a row this season, Idaho sophomores
reigned, as second-year Vandals Emily Paradis (22nd, 17:24.64) and Alycia
Butterworth (31st, 17:30.95) joined Kiser as the team's three top runners.
Senior Anna Kalbrener was Idaho's fourth finisher at 42nd overall (17:50.15)
and senior Julia Veseth rounded out the scoring with a 17:56.48 and 46th
overall placing.
The Vandal men provided a well-balanced effort for the
second meet in a row with four athletes in the top 24 overall and fourth-place
team finish with 110 points. Senior Stephane Colle was the team's top runner
after finishing 14th overall and 11th among collegians with an 8000m time of
24:06.45.
Colle was followed swiftly by junior Barry Britt in 17th
overall (24:11.81) and senior Markus Geiger in 18th (24:14.63). Senior Jeremiah
Dubie went 24th overall with a 24:23.23, and junior Jeff Osborn was the team's
fifth finisher at 64th overall in 25:44.41.
With one more regular-season meet ahead of them in two weeks
at the Bronco Invitational, hosted by Santa Clara, Idaho now switches its
training mode to more fine-tuning than conditioning as it approaches the
Western Athletic Conference Championships at Honolulu, Hawai`i, on Oct. 29.
