MOSCOW, Idaho – After a one-week hiatus, the University of Idaho men’s and women’s cross country teams jumped back into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Assocation Regional Cross Country rankings on Monday.

Following an impressive weekend in which sophomore Hannah Kiser broke an Idaho school record over 6000m and both the men’s and women’s teams pushed regionally and nationally-ranked squads from the University of Washington, the men jumped the 13th in the West Region and the women moved to 14th.

“It’s nice to get that recognition,” Idaho head coach Wayne Phipps said. “I felt like we performed very well and we were deserving of being in the top 15, but there are a lot of quality teams in the West region, so making it into the top 15 at any point in time in our region is a great accomplishment.”

The Vandal women debuted in the No.14 spot in the USTFCCCA preseason rankings on Aug. 29, while the men were 15th in the same poll.

The women’s team took second behind national No. 11 Washington in the women’s race with a program-best 21:34.94 team average on the 6000m course. Idaho’s men also posted their best-ever average of 24:34.62 in the 8000m race, and finished second to Washington, the region’s fifth-ranked team as of Monday, by only six points.

Idaho’s next competition will be on Saturday, Oct. 1, when the Vandals travel to Eugene, Ore., for the Bill Dellinger Invitational, hosted by the University of Oregon.