DES MOINES – A Drake Relays victory was one thing Lisa Koll wanted since her days running for the Fort Dodge Dodgers.

Now she has it.

Koll led from start to finish in the women’s 5,000-meter run at the Drake Relays on Thursday and won with a time of 15 minutes, 59.29 seconds – becoming the first Cyclone to win the 5,000 since 1976, when Peg Neppel posted a time of 16:28.48 in the event.

“In high school, I always looked up to the collegiate runners,” Koll said. “It was always something I wanted to do and I always wanted to be there, and in my head I always knew I could achieve it, but to actually be there now – it’s surreal.”

Koll won the event with a dominating performance, leading every lap and lapping a majority of the field, spreading her lead over second-place Betty Rotich of Alabama by about 300 meters. Rotich finished nearly a minute behind Koll with a time of 16:41.26.

“I knew going into it that I wanted to beat the meet record -obviously, that didn’t happen,” Koll said. “Running up front, it was OK. I was used to doing that in high school, I don’t really mind running alone. It was something that I planned to do.”

Koll’s run is another dominating performance in a season in which she has already set the American collegiate record in the 10,000-meter run. But Koll still has bigger plans and is far from satisfied.

“It gives me a ton of confidence. There is still places I want to go and still things I want to do,” Koll said. “I just want to keep getting better. I would love to make Beijing [in the Olympics] in the 10K, so that’s kind of a goal for the end of this year. The end goal never changes – you just want to get better and get faster.”

Koll was not the only Cyclone to perfom well in the 5,000. Junior Grace Kemmey finished fourth with a time of 16:51.52. Kemmey was experiencing her first Drake Relays but was not satisfied with her run.

“I just think it’s a good time to see all those good athletes and run with them,” Kemmey said. “I felt like I was struggling the whole time, I had a hamstring problem spark up on Wednesday – I didn’t feel it racing – but I felt like I was really struggling just the whole race.”

Kemmey was touched by her teammate’s performance.

“That was impressive – Lisa, she is my hero … She is everything to me,” Kemmey said.