POCATELLO, Idaho - Early Thursday morning the Idaho State men's and women's cross-country teams held its first practice of the year with the annual Cut Down Race. Coach
Nate Houle was pleased with the performances as four runners finished the race, the most in program history.
Due to the cancelations of the fall sports seasons, including cross country, the team must make the most of intersquad competitions like the Cut Down race.
"This acts like the race for them," said Houle. "This race is even more important than it usually is."
Although they had to make some unique modifications to abide by social distancing recommendations. The runners were spread out along the straight away at the start marked by cones and throughout the race maintained five yards between each other.
The Cut Down Race challenges the athletes to run 16 laps while increasing their pace with each lap. If a runner does not meet the required pace they are eliminated. Once the paced laps are completed the athletes who finish must run an additional two laps as fast as they can.
"This isn't something you can really just show up and take lightly and have it go well," said Houle. "It takes a lot of just mental and emotional energy on top of that."
This year on the men's side,
D'Artangnan Kilgore was the only male athlete to finish. This feat makes him the first men's cross-country runner to finish the Cut-Down Race since the event started in 2013.
On the women's side, three finished the race.
Molly Olsen came in first, followed by
Haven Lambrite, and then Katie Weeden. Olsen holds the record set in 2019 for completing the race and completing the last two laps with the fastest time. The only other female athlete to finish the race was Jenica Dodge.
"There was just a lot of success in a non-ideal situation," said Coach Houle. "I am just really happy with their resolve, is what it comes down to."
