by TEMPE, Ariz. – Resting their top-runners in the week leading up to the Big Sky Championships, Northern Arizona cross country used today’s Arizona State Invitational to finalize their championship roster on the women’s side and give a competition opportunity to younger team members.
Leading the Lumberjack women was senior Kylee Kieser. She came in neck-in-neck with Arizona’s Kayla Ferron and ultimately ended in third with a 3-mile time of 18:11.25. Caroline Hogardh (18:28.43) and Vanessa Estrada (18:47.90) also finished in the top-10 with fifth- and 10th-place finishes respectively. Sarah Baker and Rolonda Jumbo (Navajo) were the other Lumberjack scorers with 13th- and 15th-place finishes.
The women posted 46 points, falling to Arizona’s 26 points and topping Arizona State’s 55 points.
“It was great. We wanted to give some people another chance to compete so we took advantage of coming down here to sea level,” said Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Eric Heins. “It was hot, but they handled it really well.”
The ‘Jacks are out in full-force on Nov. 1 for the Big Sky Championships hosted by North Dakota.
