Women finish 14th in cross nationals

By Michael Leek
Sports Editor

The LCC women’s cross country team finished in 14th place out of 38 teams at the NJCAA National Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 11, in Huntsville, Ala.

LCC finished with a team score of 500. The first-place team was Cowley College with a score of 66. Heartland Community College finished second with a score of 71.

LCC sophomore Jana Stiffler finished in 11th place to lead the Stars, running the 5K race in 18:55.90. Next to finish for the Stars was freshman Lily Kogut, placing 91st in 21:01.70. Sophomore Lexi Wheeler placed 142nd for LCC in 22:28.

The Stars last three runners all finished together. Sophomore Reva Lance finished 174th (22:57.20), freshman Reyna Rojas finished 175th (22:58.30) and freshman Jadyn Yonchewski finished 176th (22:59.30). There were 279 runners in the race.

LCC Head Coach Jim Robinson said he was proud of how the team ran and competed.

“I think this was our best race,” Robinson said. “Jana had a really good race and finished as an All-American,” Robinson said. “If not their best time, it was their best race. They all finished under 23 minutes.”

Stiffler said returning to nationals was an amazing experience, but there was more pressure this time around.

“I think I put a lot more pressure on myself this year to do well,” Stiffler said. “I really wanted to go out with a good result for my last cross country race at LCC. I was so happy to see my collegiate cross country record broken, and then placing as All-American just made that even more amazing.”

Before the race, Stiffler said Coach Robinson offered a strong message to the team.

“He was so positive, he talked about strategy and how to make the course work for us,” Stiffler said. “He told us that he was proud of making it to nationals and for sticking through it to the end.”

The cross country season is now over. After the race and seeing the award winners on stage, Rojas said she is going to use that as motivation during the off-season.

“Seeing Jana on the stage getting her medal made me want to run harder by increasing my training intensity, upping the miles and improving my mental fortitude,” Rojas said. “I’m going to train as hard as I can to get there next year.”