The University of Idaho’s women’s cross-country team accumulated 69 points and claimed second place while the men’s team, with a score of 123, got fifth at the 2022 Big Sky Championships on Oct. 28.
Junior Maya Kobylanski and senior Kelsey Swenson helped the women’s team reach the second standing, while junior Lorenz Herrmann led the men’s team as he took 15th.
In the preseason poll, the women were predicted to finish second and did exactly that, whereas the men were picked to finish fourth, but finished fifth.
Kobylanski finished with a time of 16:37 and Swenson with 16:41, earning them the All-conference honors.
From 57th place in 2021, to third place in 2022, Kobylanski has shown exceptional improvement. In the women’s 5K race, sophomore Katja Pattis finished 15th with 17:09, graduate student Nathalia Campos ran a 17:19 to finish 19th and junior Leah Holmgren got 30th with a time 17:52.
Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Tim Cawley expressed how proud he was with the strong finish on the women’s team.
“The women’s side taking second, that’s fantastic,” Cawley said. “To see the women that came out patient, work their way up through it (and) pull themselves in a great finish to second.”
Herrmann finished with a time of 24:15 while senior Gabriel Dinnel’s 24:37 placed him in 24th place. Shea Mattson rounded out the top 30, placing 29th with a time of 24:47 in the men’s 8K.
Cawley commented that the men started and finished strong but had struggled with a hiccup in between which placed them in fifth.
“I thought that was a solid day for them too, I think we got out well, finish strong, maybe fell asleep a little in the middle, but I think they learned,” Cawley said.
Meanwhile, Northern Arizona swept the first positions in both women’s 5k race and men’s 8K race brought them to 22 points and 19 points respectively.
“I think we’re building into to a great season, (and we will) finish (with) a great season,” Cawley said.
Continue to cheer the Vandals on as they prepare for their second to last race of the season—NCAA West Regional Championships happening on Nov. 11 in Seattle, Washington.
Moeka Shimizu can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @moekashimizu_