It’s still early in the season but the Idaho women’s cross country team showed it’s a force to be reckoned after beating conference foe Seattle U and regional rival Washington State on its way to a third-place finish overall at the Sundodger Invitational. The young Idaho men’s team also beat WAC opponent Seattle U. at the meet Saturday in the Puget Sound.
“I thought both teams performed very well,” Idaho coach Wayne Pipps said. “I was really impressed by both sides. On the men’s side it was the second fastest team average we’ve had on that course. On the women’s side it was third fastest but only three seconds away from our fastest team average ever.”
Idaho senior Hannah Kiser was the top Vandal finisher on the women’s side with her sixth-place finish at 20 minutes, 50 seconds in the 6-kilometer race. Her time was almost five seconds slower than her collegiate winning time at the meet in 2012. Despite the slower time, Kiser’s race had the second fastest time for an Idaho athlete at Sundodger. Her 2012 time was the fastest.
The Vandals had another top-10 finisher with sophomore Halie Raudenbush crossing in ninth at 21:14. Her time was more than a minute faster than that of last year.
“With Halie improving that much, it was probably expected based off of her first meet this year and how well she’s running,” Phipps said.
Rounding out the top five for Idaho were freshman Alex Siemens at 25th, sophomore Abby Larson at 26th and Holly Stanton at 29th. The Vandals scored 87 points as a team putting them behind only two teams, Pac-12 squads Oregon State and Washington. Seven total teams competed in the Sundodger event.
Back on the men’s side, junior Cody Helbling was the top Vandal finishing in 24:14.01 on his way to his first top 10 finish as a Vandal at the 8-kilometer distance. He finished in 10th by only two-tenths of a second.
“We had a number of (good) performances on the men’s side too with Cody Helbling running the third fastest time ever for someone from Idaho on that course,” Phipps said.
Freshman Nick Boersma was the next Vandal to cross at 25th while sophomore Santos Vargas (42nd), freshman Tim Delcourt (46th) and freshman Mickey Day (47th) rounded out the widely spaced Idaho top five. Vargas, who was the only returning Vandal who ran the course in 2012, was 18 seconds slower than his time last season.
The Vandals return to Pac-12 territory on Saturday, Oct. 5, for their most prestigious meet of the season, the Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore.
“On the women’s side we bumped into the top fifteen in the (NCAA) West Region ranking,” Phipps said. “Which is something nice as well.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]