Campbell and Hansen Stand Out at the Mountain Regionals

POCATELLO, Idaho -- The ISU men's and women's cross country teams concluded their seasons at the NCAA Mountain Regionals in Albuquerque N.M., today.
 
Men's Race
Senior Jacob Campbell led the Bengals with a 32:12.09, 58th place finish in the final race of the season.
 
"His [Campbell's] senior year, to have all these Achilles problems and in the final race of his career put it all together despite the emotions and pressure at the biggest stage we race on was huge," Head Coach Nate Houle said.
 
 The men placed 13th in the 16-team race with a 2:43:14.45 combined-finish time. The men's race began quicker than anticipated after a lone racer launched out of the gates.
 
"The guys really showed some intelligence and some maturity and laid low," said Houle. "Really they waited for the race to come back to them and they made up a lot of ground so that was good to see."
 
Houle believes his teams have made a huge improvement in their maturity over the course of this season.
 
"I think within one season we've gone from a very emotional team to one that is very deliberate and focused on the task," Houle said.  
 
Idaho State finished the season as they began it by racing as a team. Just 28 positions separated Campbell and Dallin Webb.
 
The two automatic bids to the NCAA National Championships were awarded to Colorado and the University of Texas at El Paso for their first and second place finishes. There are more teams expected to qualify from the Mountain Region after the selection process is completed.
 
Women's Race
The Bengal women finished 15th out of the 19 teams competing in the 6K. They were led by Sophomore Presli Hutchison's 22:26.69, 54th place while senior Katie Nicholls and junior Carly Hansen both finished in the top-65.
 
"Carly Hansen was a complete stud today," Houle said. "She was almost a minute faster than she was last year on this course, that girl is a fighter."
 
Overall the team finished with 381 points, 75 points from a top-ten position.
 
Colorado and New Mexico finished first and second and will represent the Mountain Region at the NCAA National Championships in Louisville, Ky. More teams may advance from the Mountain Region once all the regional meets have concluded.  
 
The teams have had to deal with a lot of distractions this year while competing in very large meets and facing adversity in the form of injuries.

"They've grown to the point where they are able to mute some of the outside influences and still perform at the level they need to race at despite a lot of noise or zero supporters or the weather," Houle said. "They let all the extraneous variables just be there and still perform well and that's a huge takeaway for me."