The Lewis-Clark State College men’s cross country team finished second and the women’s team finished fourth in the college portion of the Bob Firman Invitational, held Saturday at Eagle Island State Park, near Boise.
The LCSC men’s team topped College of Idaho and NCAA division I Idaho State to claim second place, losing to Boise State by only 17 points. Senior Adrian Ramirez, winner of the Whitworth Invite two weeks earlier, again led the way for the Warriors as he finished in second place overall.
On the women’s side, LCSC, bested College of Idaho by 17 points, and fell only to Boise State, Idaho State, and Brigham Young University. BYU ran away with the title with nine of its runners finishing in the top 17.
Despite an hour long delay due to a rainy thunderstorm, the Warrior men, currently ranked No. 16 in the NAIA, finished the course well ahead of No. 17 ranked College of Idaho, conference member Eastern Oregon, Idaho State and a host of other area schools.
Ramirez finished the muddy 8-kilometer course in 26:10.24, less than eight seconds behind Boise State’s Brian Pierre. Junior Eric Tuwei, who sat out the season opening race at Whitworth two weeks ago due to an injury, finished fifth overall and second for the Warriors with a time of 26:27.41.
Similar to the season opener, LCSC’s top finishers on the women’s team ran in a very tight group with just six seconds between Stephanie Shuel’s team leading time of 19:37.18 and the teams’ next four finishers. It was because of this team effort that the No. 16 ranked Warrior women edged out No. 11 College of Idaho. Shuel finished 26th overall, with teammate Amanda Palmer finishing 27th with a time of 19:37.76.
LCSC coach Mike Collins was more than pleased with the way the women’s team ran. “This was one of the best team races I have seen in my twelve years of coaching at Lewis-Clark State,” said Collins. “Despite the conditions, the women’s time was only 20 seconds slower than the time LCSC recorded in 2001—and the team in 2001 finished ninth in the nation.”
Collins was equally impressed with the effort the men’s team gave. “This was our first 8K of the year and all of the freshman handled it real well,” Collins said. “This performance should help to solidify, if not move the Warriors up in the national rankings.”
Lewis-Clark State’s next meet is Oct. 4 at the Willamette Invite in Salem, Ore.
BOB FIRMAN INVITATIONAL
MEN’S 8K RESULTS
Team scoring – 1, Boise State 35. 2, Lewis-Clark State 52. 3, College of Idaho 69. 4, Eastern Oregon 98. 5, Idaho State 122. 6, Northwest Nazarene 129. 7, Treasure Valley 229. 8, Dixie State 241.
Top 10 finishers – 1, Brian Pierre, BSU, 26:02.67. 2, Adrian Ramirez, LCSC, 26:10.24. 3, Matt Stark, unattached, 26:19.71. 4, Kevin Higgs, BSU, 26:22.11. 5, Eric Tuwei, LCSC, 26:27.41. 6, Damian Baldovino, unattached, 26:27.77. 7, Zeke Wilson, COI, 26:28.93. 8, Ryan Davis, ISU, 26:32.94. 9, Scott Foley, BSU, 26:35.32. 10, Paul Sartin, COI, 26:36.95.
Other LCSC finishers – 12, Chris McConnell, 26:42.41. 22, Grant Eldridge, 27:24.28. 26, Mickael Sopel, 27:45.13. 28, Frank Lagrimanta, 27:50.82. 30, Jake Miller, 27:59.78. 41, Jon Dalton, 28:29.93. 56, Pedro Morales, 28:52.44. 58, Andy Keim, 29:04.90. 75, Clayton Kearl, 30:46.16.
WOMEN’S 5K RESULTS
Team Scoring – 1, Brigham Young 25. 2, Idaho State 66. 3, Boise State 74. 4, Lewis-Clark State 117. 5, College of Idaho 134. 6, Northwest Nazarene 152. 7, Eastern Oregon 191.
Top 10 finishers – 1, Angela Wagner, BYU, 18:19.70. 2, Katie Andrews, BYU, 18:29.12. 3, Stephanie Helm, COI, 18:34.19. 4, Gemma Maini, ISU, 18:37.42. 5, Stacey Slight, BYU, 18:45.36. 6, Erica Wendt, ISU, 18:45.74. 7, Breanne Sande, BSU, 18:50.76. 8, Jessica Lemmon, BYU, 18:56.81. 9, Sarah Yinglin, unattached, 19:00.33. 10, Sarah Hansen, BYU, 19:03.25.
LCSC finishers – 26, Stephanie Shuel, 19:37.18. 27, Amanda Palmer, 19:37.76. 28, Kylie Astle, 19:39.14. 30, Katja Loevslett, 19:42.79. 31, Lindsay Szybura, 19:43.60. 37, Taylor Harrington, 20:01.42. 43, Jessie Gulsvig, 20:20.05. 47, Kelsey Klettke, 20:34.30. 49, Rachael Park, 20:44.41. 54, Francis Rojas, 21:00.22. 55, Kirsten White, 21:03.79. 57, Madison Randall, 21:07.99. 58, Rosa Bautista, 21:10.27. 66, Casey Hampton, 21:35.43. 69, Sheree Barbour, 21:39.45. 72, Whitlee Young, 21:43.11.
