For the third straight season, the Idaho women’s cross country team heads into the WAC Championship as the favorites. The Vandals have won the WAC Championship for three consecutive seasons and five times since 2005 but this might be their deepest and most talented team yet. Idaho was predicted to win again in Saturday’s championship meet in Seattle by the WAC coaches pre-championship poll.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Last year’s individual WAC champion Hannah Kiser practices on the Dan O’Brien Track and Field Complex Tuesday. Kiser will be leading the women’s cross country team in its attempt at four straight WAC championships
on Saturday.
“We’re excited to be in this position to have a chance to get the fourth-straight title and it’s exciting to see that the other coaches have voted us as being the favorites,” Idaho coach Wayne Phipps said. “It obviously puts a little more pressure on the group but it’s something they are used to.”
While it’s not surprising the women’s team goes in as the favorites, the young Idaho men’s team also earned some recognition in the polls. Despite only featuring one returner from last year’s team, the Vandals were picked to finish second to Utah Valley in the pre-championship coaches poll on the men’s side.
The men’s team is led by junior BYU transfer Cody Helbling while the women’s team features last year’s individual WAC Champion Hannah Kiser.
Making History
The Idaho women’s cross country team has already made its mark with three consecutive championship wins — a rare feat in college athletics. But a group of seniors wants to finish the work they started as freshman by winning their fourth straight WAC Championship. Seniors Kiser, Emily Paradis, Holly Stanton Browning and Alycia Butterworth are vying for their fourth straight team title. Kiser is also competing for her second-straight individual WAC title.
“I think that we really felt the most stress when we were sophomores because we had won once,” Kiser said. “We really wanted to win again. Then last year we won by just a point and we returned everyone, so that gave us a lot of confidence.”
This season might feature a deeper team than the Vandals have had in the past. Rising sophomore Halie Raudenbush has moved into the No. 2 fastest runner on the team behind Kiser and other talented freshman and sophomores have passed some of the veteran seniors. Despite playing an instrumental role in the Vandals’ last three championships, Butterworth won’t be competing in Idaho’s top seven this weekend.
“It was a hard decision getting down to seven,” Phipps said. “The depth is incredible, we are really strong one through twelve. Alycia Butterworth had been a main reason why we’ve been able to win the last two years — without her … we don’t win either one of those conference championships. But it just, again, shows the depth of this team.”
That depth is shown with two freshman and two sophomores joining Kiser, Stanton Browning and Paradis to round out the top seven competing at the WAC Championship. Sophomore Abby Larson and freshman Alex Siemens are two of the young runners who have propelled themselves into Idaho’s top seven.
“As the season progressed, everyone has improved well,” Raudenbush said. “We are all running fast. Everyone’s (personal records) have been significant.”
In addition to winning the WAC Championship, Phipps said one of the team goals is to get as many Idaho runners in the top 14 as possible. The top 14 finishers are awarded All-WAC honors and Phipps wants it to be filled with Vandals.
As far as individual goals, Kiser is one of the favorites to repeat as the individual WAC Champion. Kiser has struggled with a sesamoid injury this season but showed no sign of it slowing her down in a second-place finish at the Bronco Invitational on Oct. 19.
But Kiser isn’t the clear-cut favorite. Missouri-Kansas City’s Courtney Frerichs — a former NCAA All-American in the steeplechase — will challenge Kiser for the WAC title this season.
Phipps said there are three teams on the women’s side who could challenge Idaho for the team title — New Mexico State, Utah Valley and Seattle U. But one advantage the Vandals have had this year is competing against those team. Normally, Idaho goes into the WAC without facing most of the WAC competition. But this year, they’ve competed against and beat those teams during the regular season.
“WAC (Championship) is really special because you’re all working together to beat other teams,” Kiser said. “Cross (country) WAC is a lot different than track (and field) WAC, it’s one of my favorite meets of the year because there’s such a special team bonding and feel to it.”
Young but talented
Unlike the veteran Idaho women’s team, the men’s team is composed of almost entirely new players. Despite only returning sophomore Santos Vargas from last year’s team, the Vandals are picked to finish second Saturday at the WAC Championships in the WAC pre-championship poll. Utah Valley was voted No. 1.
“I think the pre-championship ranking was appropriate because Utah Valley beat us quite handedly at the meet in Santa Clara, but I don’t think that was a reflection of the way this team can compete,” Phipps said.
It is also nice going into the meet as an underdog because there is less pressure, Phipps said. He said the team is going to try to stick with Utah Valley for the whole race even if they tire out and finish last because of it because he’d rather go for the win than settle for second.
The young men’s team has had some learning experiences this season, as there are nine underclassmen on the 11-man team. In the Dellinger Invitational on Oct 5, the men came out too fast while they started too slow on Oct. 19 at the Bronco Invitational.
“Fortunately, I feel like we’ve had a few learning experiences early on in the season,” Idaho junior Cody Helbling said. “I feel like the guys are going to get it. We should all have pretty good races.”
Helbling is one of the favorites to win the conference in his first year in the WAC on the men’s side. He has been Idaho’s top finisher in each race this season.
“My main goal is to just run my best. I’m going to try to not so much race everyone else, but race the clock and try to (get a personal record),” Helbling said. “Hopefully if I PR, I’ll also bring home the title.”
Along with Helbling, freshman Nick Boersma has been a standout for the Vandals as the men’s No. 2 runner. Boersma comes from a track and field background but has excelled for the Vandals at the 8-kilometer distance this season.
Helbling and Boersma provide a veteran-youngster combo on the men’s side while Kiser and Raudenbush head the women’s team as the Vandal cross country teams head into the biggest meet of the season on Saturday.
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]