Men's Cross Country | 09.18.2026
RESULTS
NAMPA, Idaho – Freshmen stepped up on Friday to help lead LC State Men's Cross Country at the NNU Invitational in Nampa. Sandpoint's
Paul Kent was the top Warrior finisher at the race as LC State finished fifth as a team.
No. 7 College of Idaho won the team title at the meet, followed by host NCAA Division II Northwest Nazarene and NJCAA College of Southern Idaho. NAIA No. 13 Eastern Oregon was just ahead of LC State in the team standings.
"A good day and a good step towards our goals at the end of the year,"
Dr. Michael Collins said. "Our first race of the year at our conference and national championship distances, which for a lot of our athletes is the first time they've ever run this distance, so it takes a little bit of adjusting to both physically and mentally. I thought they responded well. Some freshmen stepped up today and showed what they were capable of and we'll definitely learn from this. We weren't too far behind Eastern Oregon, which is one of the top 15 teams in the country."
Kent clocked a time of 25:23.3 to place 10
th in the field of almost 90 runners. In all, three of LC State's top five finishers were freshmen running in their first collegiate 8k.
Sophomore
Malachi Walsh ran a personal-best time of 25:26.5 to place 12
th and
Zoran LaFrombois also ran a career best at 26:10.8 to finish 28
th.
Freshmen
Cole Wilkerson and
Finnegan O'Donnell rounded out the top five for the Warriors. Wilkerson crossed the line in 50
th place (27:02.1) and O'Donnell was 59
th (27:15.7).
Dawson Welliver ran a PR of 27:43.1 to place 64
th and
Manuel Valdez was 71
st (28:26.9).
"Paul is showing an amazing amount of maturity in his running as a true freshman, excited for him and his future," Collins added. "Malachi is showing that he has done a lot of work in the offseason, which is showing in these races as well. This is a really good group of guys training very well together. It will be fun to watch them as we progress."
UP NEXT
LC State Cross Country is back in action at the Whitworth Invite in Spokane on Oct. 3.
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