Last year, Lisa Koll raced her way to All-American status by herself, as the only ISU women’s cross country runner to reach the NCAA Championships in 2006.

This year, the junior got to share the honors with a teammate, as Koll’s 18th place finish at last Monday’s Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind., was just ahead of Cyclone runner Grace Kemmey’s 22nd-place run.

Both Koll and Kemmey said the influence they had on each other paid dividends in training for the event throughout the year and executing their training at Nationals.

“It’s been great to have somebody with me all the time, even in races, to know she’s going to be there,” Koll said. “Last year I went all by myself to Nationals, and to have her there with me this year was irreplaceable, to have that person next to you at the starting line that you have been next to all year.”

Although they were separated during the race, the result was what Koll called “a big step for our program,” as both achieved the All-American mark.

“We’ve been training together, and every time she’s been ahead of me, and I’ve been trying to go with her,” Kemmey said of Koll. “She’s been a great help, because I don’t think without her help I would have made it this far.”

Koll said she was satisfied with her race, but was still hoping for better. After racing in the top 10 for most of the day, she fell back to 18th in the last thousand meters. Coach Corey Ihmels said her finish was good in the natural progression of where she is at in her career.

“Realistically, I think she made that next logical step,” Ihmels said. “She’s 18th in the country, and looking ahead to next year, she will be in the top 10 in the country. If we can keep getting that improvement, that’ll be tremendous.”

Kemmey, on the other hand, raced her way from the middle of the pack, and not only reached her goal of a top-30 finish, but did better than what her coach expected.

Kemmey, a junior from Eldoret, Kenya, was an NAIA All-American during her first two years of college at Vanguard University of Southern California.

“She was someone that we brought in and we knew she was going to help us a lot, but if you would have told me at the beginning of the year that she would be 22nd in the country I would have thought you were crazy,” Ihmels said.

After getting two All-Americans, Ihmels, Koll and Kemmey agreed that the next step for the program was to send the team to Nationals next year.

The team earned its first Midwest Regional ranking since 2000 when it was ranked ninth midway through the season. The Cyclones ran to a seventh-place finish at Regionals on Nov. 10, and although it wasn’t good enough to make Nationals as a team, it gave the team hope for the future.

“I think we’re crazy if we don’t think we can be a national team next year. To have two kids that are in the top 22 in the country, we have to have a team there next year and I think we will,” Ihmels said. “I think they understand what they can achieve.”

Koll barely stopped short of making a guarantee.

“We definitely need to have the team there,” she said. “We will have the team there, and I’m very confident in that.”