ISU women’s cross country coach Dick Lee said before the national championships that if sophomore Lisa Koll finished in the 35th to 70th place range, she would have run really well.

Koll ran very strong and accomplished that goal in her first national meet. She finished the 6K LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 20 in a time of 21:28.8, which put her in 36th place. A fellow Big 12 runner, Sally Kipyego from Texas Tech, won the individual national title and the women from Stanford University won the team national championship.

Koll not only battled the 252 other competitors in the race, but she faced sloppy conditions as well. The course had taken on significant rainfall and was very soft and muddy.

“Everyone had to do it,” Lee said. “The soggy course took a lot out of the runners.”

The time off between meets was also shorter than usual, with only a week instead of the usual two.

Koll’s finish in this meet earned her All-America honors. The NCAA Division I NCAA All-America Cross Country Team consists of the top 30 finishers at the NCAA championship plus an equal number of U.S. student-athletes displaced by non-U.S. citizens in the top 30. Since there were seven non-U.S. citizens in the top 30, the team consisted of 37 student-athletes.

“Lisa ran well every week,” Lee said.

That honor went along with the All-Midwest Region honors that Koll garnered with her seventh-place finish at the regional meet on Nov. 11.