(Lewiston, ID) The 2024 fall season concludes on Friday when LC State races at the 2024 NAIA Cross Country National Championships. The No. 18 Warrior women are making their 24th straight appearance at the national meet, while the No. 16 men will race against the nation for the 21st consecutive year. The action at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course will start at 8:30 a.m. PT.
THE MEN
The LC State men are led by a strong senior class, highlighted by All-Cascade Conference finishers Carter Gordon and Griffen Parsells. The pair placed in the top 15 with Gordon in 12th and Parsells in 14th at the 2024 Cascade Conference Cross Country Championships, presented by U.S. Bank, earlier this month. Alexander Fry had the best race of his career at the conference meet and placed 17th.
Kobe Wessels was the lone Warrior to earn All-American honors in cross country last season with a 25th-place finish to help LC State finish 17th. He has been one of the top runners for LC State all season, along with senior Conner May who was consistently in the top three for LC State. Keith Uitdewilligen also placed in the top five for the Warriors at the conference meet while Connor Alexander and Cooper Carlson have been in the mix throughout the season. The LC State men will rely on the strength of their depth in the final meet of 2024.
The Warrior men are no stranger to this year’s course after racing there in September at the Gans Creek Classic. Wessels led LC State in the race with a 40th-place finish and was in the top 15 of NAIA runners. May was the second Warrior across the line and Parsells ran a personal-best time as the third LC State runner. The squad placed ninth as a team and bested then-No. 5 Cumberlands (Ky.).
The College of Idaho men are the favorite to win the meet as the No. 1 ranked team in the NAIA. The Yotes have the fastest top-five time in the nation heading into the race. Eastern Oregon is ranked No. 10 and will be one of three CCC teams in the event. The field is made of 36 teams and 80 individuals for 332 runners total.
THE WOMEN
The Warrior women placed 11th at the national meet a year ago behind All-American Brooklyn Shell, but a fresh-faced team will take to the course this season with similar aspirations. Despite losing two talented seniors to graduation, LC State returned for the 2024 season with young talent to keep the tradition of competing at nationals alive.
Freshman Damaris Kibiwot has been a force for the Warrior women and gets better with every race. After setting the LC State freshman record at the LC State Invitational, Kibiwot went on to place 14th at the Blazing Tiger Classic filled with some on of the top teams in the NAIA. The first-year student from Kenya was the sixth runner to cross the line at the CCC meet to earn All-Cascade Conference honors, followed by junior Camille Ussher in 15th.
Ussher ran a career-best race to earn All-CCC honors at the conference meet. The Spokane Falls CC transfer gets stronger with each race, along with freshman Lily Bennett. Bennett was the third Warrior finished at the conference meet and has been one of the most consistent LC State runners all season. Junior Grace Tiegs, an All-American in track and field, and senior Abigail Shumaker are the lone returners from last season’s national race and have been key pieces to the roster all season.
Taylor (Ind.) is the topped ranked team in the NAIA heading into the race with No. 6 College of Idaho as the highest-ranked CCC team. Conference member Southern Oregon, who the Warriors tied with at the CCC meet, is No. 15. The Warrior women were ranked No. 18 heading into last season’s meet, similar to this year. Eastern Oregon, receiving votes in the national poll, is also in the 334-person field. There are 36 teams and 84 individuals in their year’s race.
THE DETAILS
The men start the day with an 8K at 8:30 a.m. PT with the women’s 5K at 9:30 a.m. PT. Both races will be live streamed for free on the NAIA Network and live results will be available.
The top 40 runners in each race will earn All-American honors.