Winning one championship shows a team is good but winning four-straight championships qualifies it as a dynasty.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
The WAC champions, Idaho women’s cross country team, run outside the Kibbie Dome Monday. The Vandals won their fourth straight WAC Championship with the victory.
The Idaho women’s cross country team established its dominance, winning its fourth straight WAC Championship and sixth in the past eight seasons Saturday amid windy and rainy conditions in Seattle. Led by senior Hannah Kiser’s second-consecutive first-place WAC finish, the Vandals finished with 25 points — 23 points ahead of second-place host team, Seattle U.
“They really just took it to the rest of the teams right off the bat,” Idaho coach Wayne Phipps said of his team. “It was pretty much over after the first couple minutes of the race. They really were intelligently aggressive during the first part, established position very well and finished strong. What more can you say about a group that’s been at the top of the conference for four-straight years.”
Kiser’s individual victory came in 17 minutes, 15.70 seconds — 20 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Courtney Frerichs of Missouri-Kansas City. But despite Kiser’s dominance, the win wasn’t easy. Frerichs is a former NCAA All-American runner in the steeplechase and didn’t finish worse than fourth in any cross country meet this season. On top of facing a tough competitor, Kiser had only competed in two meets prior to the WAC Championships, due to battling injury throughout the season.
“That race, as easy as Hannah made it look, it was an amazing accomplishment based off the weather conditions, to run as fast as she did and so handily beat another competitor who is an extremely talented cross country and track runner,” Phipps said. “For Hannah to beat her by 20 seconds, when you sit back and analyze it, really is an amazing accomplishment.”
Idaho seniors Kiser, Holly Stanton Browning, Emily Paradis and Alycia Butterworth decided they wanted to win all four years after winning their first championship in 2010. That goal became a reality on Saturday.
“It really meant a lot to all four of those seniors,” Phipps said. “Holly and Emily, they just really stepped up … at the beginning of the year, Holly and Emily were maybe middle of the pack on our team but coming down to conference, those girls really know how to compete.”
Out of each of Idaho’s championship winning teams, this one might be the best. Stanton Browning finished second for the Vandals and third overall in 18:04.70. It was the fastest race of her career. Sophomore Halie Raudenbush, who has burst onto the scene this season for the Vandals, finished fifth and Paradis finished sixth. Sophomore Abby Larson finished 10th to make it five Vandals in the top 10.
Freshmen Ally Ginther (13th) and Alex Siemens (22nd) provided depth for the Vandals on a day where every Vandal runner finished ahead of the first-place team runners from Texas-Pan American, Grand Canyon and Cal State-Bakersfield.
Butterworth did not compete for Idaho despite being an essential part to each of the Vandals’ last two championships — further exemplifying the depth of this year’s team.
The Vandals victory also came with many accolades. Kiser was named the WAC Cross Country Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row and Phipps earned his sixth WAC Women’s Coach of the Year honor. Kiser, Stanton Browning, Raudenbush and Paradis earned All-WAC first-team honors while Larson and Ginther earned second-team honors.
The Vandals’ season isn’t over yet, as they still have regional competition at the NCAA West Championship Meet. But for now, they can celebrate their conference title.
“We all came out with a positive attitude. The atmosphere at WAC is just so great. We were all really excited to come out here and defend out title,” Kiser said. “We knew that we had a really strong team, so we came in with a lot of confidence and we ran with that confidence.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]