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After winning the Big 12 Championship in the 10,000-meter run, Lisa Koll is looking toward the future.

Koll, who earned 10 team points in the 10,000 and five points for her fourth-place finish in the 5,000 Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Lincoln, Neb., helped the Cyclones to a ninth-place finish with 44 team points. Koll said representing Iowa State was the most important part of victory.

“I love representing Iowa State, and I love how people look at me and see Iowa State having success,” Koll said. “Being part of the team and knowing that we’re trying to become real competitive and that we’re building is great, and I love being a part of that.”

The winning time of 35 minutes, 36.60 seconds made Koll the second freshman in Big 12 history to win the conference title in the race. However, Koll said building off this race is just as important as winning the race itself.

“I think it’s big to do as a freshman, but I think it’s important to have success the next three years,” Koll said. “As exciting as it is to be part of that group of people doing well when they’re young, I want to make sure I’m in that group when I’m older too.”

The race itself saw Koll hang back through the first half before making a charge with about 2,000 meters to go. Hot, dry weather made it a race of endurance, said coach Dick Lee, and Koll was able to overcome it.

“You just couldn’t run that fast the first half of the race, if you wanted to survive the race. She did what she wanted to do: She was patient and finally got to a point where she could pick it up and keep things going,” Lee said. “That was her first ever 10,000 on the track, so that shows a lot about her character and her toughness.”

Koll has run two cross country seasons for the Cyclones, and earned All-American honors in the fall. However, after redshirting in her first track and field season in 2006, Lee said neither of them expected this kind of immediate success.

“If we would have talked about her being a Big 12 champion in outdoor track before the season, we probably would have had a good laugh about it,” Lee said. “She didn’t have the background on the track to predict her to do what she’s done this year. It’s fun seeing kids improve that much.”

Koll said the improvement shown over this season will help will her in the future.

“It shows how much improvement you can have in one year, and how much hard work can pay off,” Koll said. “I guess it just makes me realize how much harder I want to work and the places I want to go.”

Heading into NCAA Regionals on May 25 and 26 in Des Moines, Koll says she will have newfound respect.

“I feel like I’m finally getting my foot in the big picture of track and field,” Koll said. “I feel like people are finally starting to look at me as a competitive athlete, and that’s a dream come true.”

Posted 5/16/07 @ 10:36 PM CST