Lisa Koll paced the Cyclone distance runners this past weekend at the Stanford Invitational, against some of the best competition in the nation on the collegiate level.

In what Koll called the most competitive meet until nationals for the distance runners, Koll and senior Jenny Mockler led a small contingent of ISU distance runners by running their two best career times.

Koll, who competed in the 5,000-meter run, was running for the first time at an outdoor meet in an ISU uniform and in a star-studded field, featuring professionals running for shoe companies, such as Nike, Asics and Brooks.

“I wanted to put myself in the second pack, just in a good position [where] there’s a lot of good runners and professional runners,” Koll said.

“Right in front of me, I see someone running for Asics, so that was a little intimidating, but at the same time, I belong there, and I wanted to stay up where I belong.”

Koll fell off the pack in the second half of the race and managed a 19th-place finish overall with a time 16 minutes 19.58 seconds – the second fastest time in school history. Her effort also qualified her for the NCAA Midwest Regional Meet.

“The first half of the race went as planned; towards the second half, I just lost that pack – I lost my momentum,” Koll said.

“I let people get ahead of me that I shouldn’t have. I just lost my focus.”

Although Koll said some people beat her that should not have, she feels confident that everything will come together toward the end of the season.

“I was okay with my time, I did what I needed to do and qualify for Regionals – individually I’m not satisfied with how I ran,” Koll said.

“Some people beat me that I know I’m more fit than, and I know I can beat them later in the season, but at this point, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is what happens in June.”

Not to be outdone, Mockler ran her career best time in the 1500 with 4:31.59. Mockler was stepping up the distance from the previous meet, where she ran the 800 at the Walt Disney World Invitational.

Iowa State was also represented at the Missouri Invitational by throwers Amy Waggoner and Heather Gilliland. Waggoner finished fifth in the discus and Gilliland finished 10th in the javelin.