RESULTS
PORTLAND, Ore. – No. 21 LC State Women's Cross Country dominated in its season opener at the Lewis & Clark XC Opener in Portland on Friday. The Warriors claimed the top three spots and had four in the top 10 to secure the team victory in the 5k.
"Just an amazing day," coach Mike Collins said. "You don't see too many teams go 1-2-3 at meets, and for us to do that today was something that I really did not expect. Those ladies just hung together the entire way. If we can continue to do that throughout the rest of the season, we will be a very good team."
Damaris Kibiwot, Kelsey Plymale and Aubree Williams battled for the top spot and were separated by less than a second throughout the race. Kibiwot earned the win with Plymale and Williams just behind.
Kibiwot clocked a time of 18:09.8 for her individual win. The next five LC State runners all ran personal-best times for a stellar start to the season.
Plymale placed second (18:12.0) and Williams was third in her return to collegiate running (18:21.1). Sophomore Eva Lundgren rounded out the top 10 with a time of 19:07.3.
Leila Flannery was the fifth Warrior across the line in 12
th place (19:11.3) and Hannah Berdan was 14
th in her LC State debut (19:26.0). Zion Boyd placed 15
th in her first collegiate race (19:33.7).
Lilly Gilbert finished 20
th overall in the field of 45 with a time of 20:20.8 and freshman Morgan Myers was 34
th (21:54.7).
"How good we are is going to really depend on how well our fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh runners can close that gap to the front," Collins explained. "I have a lot of confidence that they will be able to do that. The atmosphere with this team is unlike any I've had in quite some time. Just very motivated, very positive, lots of joy, camaraderie, and just a good feeling about everything in general. So much to look forward to this season and the rest of this year."
UP NEXT
LC State continues the 2026 season on Sept. 18 at the NNU Invitational in Nampa.
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