Distance runners Lisa Koll and Betsy Saina had a first and second place finish in the 10,000-meter run Thursday at the NCAA Championships.

The pair helped earn Iowa State an eighth place finish at this year’s outdoor championships. Iowa State had yet to place in the top 10 prior to this year’s meet.

Koll secured her place in Cyclone history as she also won the 5,000-meter race.

Coach Corey Ihmels said this kind of athletic achievement has happened only three times in the last twenty years.

“[It’s] a pretty historic accomplishment,” Ihmels said. “Running as fast as she did in the 10 and the way she won that, then coming back and setting a blistering pace in the five … it was a great weekend. She lived up to the billing and obviously did a great job.”

With two laps to go in her final race as a Cyclone, Ihmels called out and reminded Koll to smile and enjoy the moment. She may have known the victory would be hers, but Koll had no idea fellow teammate and friend Saina was on her heels in second place.

“She didn’t know Betsy [Saina] was behind her,” Ihmels said. “That was pretty cool to see those two go one-two.”

When asked what it felt like ending her collegiate career on such a high note, Koll said there’s no feeling like it.

“It was like a culmination of all my hard work. Not just this year, but in my five years at Iowa State,” she said.

Koll compared her last feat in cardinal and gold to that of a storybook ending.

“It couldn’t have ended any better,” Koll said. “I’m never going to look back and regret or look back and think ‘oh, I wish I had run that race’ or ‘oh, I wish I had won that title.'”

Although Koll has closed the book on her days as a collegiate athlete, she’s making haste on leaving her mark in the elite track and field community. Drake Stadium in Des Moines will host the 2010 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championship from June 23-27 where Koll will compete in her trademark race, the 10,000-meters.

She is seeded second only behind Olympian Amy Yoder-Begley.

With Koll hanging up her cardinal and gold, the spotlight will be cast on Saina as well as distance runner Semehar Tesfaye. Tesfaye finished 17th and 19th in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races.

“You’re going to be hard pressed to find somebody that’s accomplished what she’s accomplished,” Ihmels said.

Koll closes out her ISU career with four Big 12 titles in the 10,000, and four national titles, including this past weekend’s double gold.

“I always say to recruits that she’s probably not our most talented athlete, but she’s our greatest athlete,” Ihmels said. “I think that her work ethic and the effort she’s put in has really taken her to another level.”