The freshmen duo of Lisa Koll and Kiel Uhl may have given the cross country team a taste for things to come on Friday at the ISU Open.

Koll won the women’s 5K (19:17.63) and Uhl placed second with a time of 25:44.12 in the men’s 8K behind South Dakota’s Tony Turgeon (25:42.64).

It was the first meet of the season for the women and the second for the men.

Koll said she was very nervous before Friday’s meet, something coach Dick Lee said is good.

“If you’re not nervous, it’s not important to you,” Lee said. “There’s a difference between being nervous and being scared. Being nervous gives you a little tension and excitement. I expect them to be nervous, and as a coach I should keep them from being scared.”

Koll said she used her nerves to her advantage.

“It pumped me up a bit,” she said. “There’s an adrenaline rush when you have nerves. It gets you going. It’s just a matter of keeping them under control and staying focused.

“As soon as I got here – it was business. I listened to my music to get psyched up, stepped to the line and as soon as the gun went off, it was just you versus your body. Then it was just working through that pain.”

Lee said Koll ran a smart race, making her move between the 4K and 5K mark and was very aggressive during the last 400-meter home stretch.

The high temperatures provided a challenge for the runners. Senior Krysta Metz, whom Lee called a “hot-weather runner,” dropped out.

“That was a smart move on her part,” Lee said.

Junior Meredith McKean placed 12th with a time of 20:31.95.

“During the first 2K, I was pretty relaxed,” McKean said. “I was happy with my race.”

Dawn Caffrey placed 14th (20:45.66) and Erin Penticoff finished 15th (20:48.04) out of 40 runners.

Following the women’s race was the men’s 8K.

Despite finishing second, Uhl said he was disappointed.

“I just don’t have that extra gear yet,” he said. “It’s only the second week of September. It’ll come.”

The heat didn’t seem to fatigue Uhl.

“I felt fine, my legs just wouldn’t turn over quick enough,” he said.

“It’s different than last week [in Laramie, Wyo.] where the breathing was hard. Picking up my legs wasn’t as easy as last week.”

Junior David Rotich, coming off of illness, finished third (26:02.81) and freshmen John Riccardi (36:39.68) and Jory Zunich (36:59.39) placed eighth and 10th, respectively.

Looking at the entire team’s effort, men’s coach Corey Ihmels said he was very pleased.

“I could go through the line and say something positive about everyone,” Ihmels said. “As a cross country coach, I can’t always do that.

“We competed really well and our freshmen did a tremendous job.”

Ihmels said once the team begins speed workouts, that extra gear Uhl couldn’t reach shouldn’t be a problem.

“We haven’t done anything really fast yet,” Ihmels said. “Kiel isn’t real strong yet or comfortable yet. He’s got all the attributes to be great.

“David’s really talented. He’s not 100 percent yet, but that shows how talented he is. He really wanted to be out there.

“He’s a factor as to whether we’ll be good.”

Looking ahead, the Cyclones will run in the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis on Sept. 24, which is one of the biggest meets the country, Ihmels said.

“Next week’s a big training week for us,” he said. “We’ve got to put our heads down and get to work.”