A former Vandal and a current Vandal took home the individual titles Saturday as the Idaho cross country teams ran in the Inland Empire Challenge in Lewiston.
On the women’s side, Alycia Butterworth finished first, running unaffiliated in the 5-kilometer race, finishing in 16 minutes, 24 seconds. Senior Cody Helbling won on the men’s side, finishing the 8-kilometer race in 23:48.
File photo by Jackson Flynn | Argonaut
Senior Abby Larson practicing on the track Thursday afternoon. Larson and the Vandals competed at the Inland Empire Challenge Saturday in Lewiston where both teams took second place.
The Vandals next meet is the Big Sky Conference Championship Nov. 1 in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
“It was a solid day for Idaho cross country,” Idaho coach Travis Floeck said. “We saw a lot of improvement from our meet two weeks ago. We still need a day when we’re all running our best on the same day, but the goal is to accomplish that at the conference and regional meets.”
The top current Vandal was freshman Sierra Speiker, who continues to impress in her first collegiate cross country season. Speiker finished sixth overall and third among collegiate racers with a time of 17:05. She beat her previous best by 43 seconds.
Junior Alex Sciocchetti finished 20th, with a time of 17:39, junior Marquita Palmer finished 26th (17:55), junior Abby Larson finished 28th (18:00) and sophomore Valerie Mitchell finished 29th (18:03) to round out scoring for Idaho. The Vandals finished second in team scoring, with 46 points, four points behind Montana.
“The women competed hard,” Floeck said. “They executed the race play very well. I hate losing by such a close margin to a conference opponent, but think that will provide some more motivation as we prepare for the conference championships in two weeks.”
On the men’s side, junior Santos Vargas was the second Vandal to finish placing 22nd with a time of 24:56. He was followed by junior Cayle Turpen in 27th (25:07), sophomore Nathan Stark in 46th (25:35) and junior Morgan Choate in 68th (26:17). Idaho also finished second on the men’s side with 54 points. Gonzaga won the meet with 20 points.
“The men had improvement overall and we had some PR’s,” Floeck said. “I still feel there is a little more there and want us to get more consistent as a group, but I’m pleased. I’m excited to see them rise to the occasion at the conference meet.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]