The Idaho State women’s cross country team continues to make strides under first-year coach Zach Kughn, placing fourth as a team at the prestigious Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational over the weekend.
“The women were so fun to watch,” said Kughn after the Bengal women placed fourth out of 23 teams in their heat with 197 points.
Indiana State won the heat with 97 points.
“They are just really gaining confidence and I think really having fun seeing how good they can be,” Kughn added. “We didn’t have a perfect day, but yet placing in the top-4 in a field like that is huge for our program and great moving forward.”
The Bengal men also had a respectable performance, placing ninth in their heat among 18 teams with 257 points. Wisconsin-La Crosse won the “gold heat” with 41 points.
“On the men’s side, we had an extremely interesting race,” said Kughn. “Some great highlights, but also some lows. We definitely lack depth on the men’s side and consequently, it makes it harder to have all five of our scorers have good days on the same day. That’s something we are going to be working diligently to figure out over the next four weeks before conference.”
Senior Cassandra Vasquez continued to be the top finisher for the women, placing 18th out of 182 runners in her five kilometer race in 17 minutes and 42 seconds. Sophomore Olivia Kendell placed 29th in 17:57.7 − her personal best over five kilometers by nearly a minute and a half. Alivia Johnson also recorded a personal best, placing 38th in 18:04.3.
They were followed by Allie Lemons, 41st in 18:06.7, Reagan Borg, 72nd, 18:30.8, Sulette Ferreya Serna, 76th, 18:34.6, and Saylor Erickson, 98th, 18:53.8
“I think we are in the process of a mind shift for sure,” Kughn said of his women’s team. “We’ve got a long ways to go, but I think if we enjoy this process and continue setting a high bar and swinging for the fences, we are going to raise the level of the program and it’s not going to take years and years. We are striving for immediate and sustained success.”
Fellow Big Sky member Northern Arizona, annually one of the top programs in the country, continued to display its prowess, racing in the “blue heat” that featured some of the top programs in the country. The Lumberjack women won their heat with 52 points, ahead of second-place BYU (65) and the host Fighting Irish with 70.
On the men’s side, Notre Dame won the “blue heat” with 55 points and NAU was second with 68.
The ISU men were led by junior Seth Babbel, who placed ninth out of 150 runners who finished the eight kilometer heat, in 24:22.9 − a personal best by 30 seconds at that distance. He was followed by junior Sunny Gunn, who finished 19th in 24:39.2. Babbel and Gunn have finished in the top-20 in every meet so far this fall, with Babbel finishing no lower than ninth.
Other Bengal finishers include Brandon Walker, 98th, 25:50.6, Jacob DeTemple, 112th, 26:00.3, Jared Harden, 125th, 26:23.7, and Gavin Pollock, 129th, 26:34.4.
The Bengals have one more tune-up meet before hosting the conference championships, that being the Inland Empire Championships in Lewiston on Oct. 19. ISU will host the Big Sky championships at Riverside Golf Course, because its own course is currently not up to championship level, Kughn said.
“It’s more of a trail,” Kughn said of the Centennial Course located on campus. “It’s extremely hilly and gets rutted out any time it rains or after snow melt. Centennial is about to undergo a massive renovation actually — exciting news. But the renovation project is coming together about twelve months too late to be able to host this year’s championship.”
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