BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
For the first time in program history, the College of Idaho women’s cross country team is a national champion.
The 2023 NAIA national championship took place Friday in Vancouver, Washington. All season long, the Yotes have been ranked inside the top three in the NAIA top 25. In the last two editions of the poll, they were ranked No. 1 and poised to take home their first ever national championship.
The Yotes finished with 68 points, ahead of The Master’s University (California) in second place with 92. Five of the seven runners for the College of Idaho finished in the top 10.
Junior Ellyse Tingelstad led the Yotes’ runners, finishing second overall with a time of 21 minutes, 16 seconds. Right behind her in third was junior Sage Martin at 21:39. Senior Abbey Shirts was fifth at 21:41 and sophomore Kahea Figueira was seventh, clocking a time of 21:46.
Rounding out the field for College of Idaho was junior Charlie Duff in 64th, sophomore Molly Connor in 115th and freshman Julia Gilbert in 135th. Over 300 runners participated in the race.
The Yotes have come close to winning it all in recent years. In the last four national championship meets, the College of Idaho has finished third, fifth, second and second.
“It’s been almost a decade-plus of our girls being second four times,” head coach Dominic Bolin said after the race. “It goes back to when I was in school. I’ve been getting texts yesterday and today from those gals on the team wishing us luck. Our coach at the time wishing me luck. This is huge to finally get over that hurdle and bring this home to the College of Idaho.”
The key for the Yotes was getting the bottom half of the their lineup closer to the top. Bolin knew their top runners would put them in a good spot to win — it was the rest of the team that had to climb up the leaderboard, which they did.
“We knew coming in those top three, returning All-Americans, had a great spring last year," Bolin said. "Kehea and Charlie did as well, but we knew we had to get them closer to those other three.”
With a number of runners qualifying on an individual basis, thus ineligible to score team points, Duff’s finish scored 51 points for the Yotes. Her finish was instrumental in the Yotes’ triumph.
“I challenged those other girls that are five, six, seven and eight this year to say, ‘we need to get close, a (fifth) close to our (fourth).’ Every single meet we got closer," Bolin said.
Tingelstad, Martin, Shirts and Figueira earned All-American honors, which are given out to runners that finish inside in the top 40 at the national championships.
The men's team also competed in the meet, finishing sixth. Senior Daniel Butler (11th, 25:09) and junior Hayden Bostrom (18th, 25:16) earned All-American honors.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
Watch more Sports:
See KTVB sports coverage in our YouTube playlist:
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET NEWS FROM KTVB:
Download the KTVB News Mobile App
Apple iOS: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Watch news reports for FREE on YouTube: KTVB YouTube channel
Stream Live for FREE on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching 'KTVB'.
Stream Live for FREE on FIRE TV: Search ‘KTVB’ and click ‘Get’ to download.