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Kailey O'Brien

Women's Cross Country

Lions Place Tenth in Rainy West Coast Conference Championship

SPOKANE VALLEY, WA — In the debut race on the newly constructed venue known simply as The Course, the Lions went out hard In a tightly contested field to place tenth at the West Coast Conference Championship on a rainy Saturday morning in Spokane, Wash. 

"As a team, we were aggressive in the first mile of this race, and put ourselves in position to do something special," said Head Coach Chloe Curtis. Curtis acknowledged that while the team wasn't able to hold its position in the later stages of the race, she was proud of their effort, emphasizing that "the team fought hard all the way through the finish."

While the result wasn't the one the Lions were chasing, the race offered several highlights, including a breakthrough performance from freshman Kailey O'Brien (Elkhorn, NE) that saw the LMU rookie earn a scoring position for the first time this season. The results set the stage for redemption at the NCAA West Regionals later this month, where the Lions will once again face several conference foes.

First for the team in a time of 22:18.1 was senior Hayden Washington (Valencia, CA) in what was the two-year captain's final WCC Championship appearance. Junior Rylee Guinn (Brentwood, CA) followed as the second scorer in a time of 22:34.1. Junior Ava Boyd (Longmont, CO), notched her first top-three team finish of the season to help keep LMU in the top ten overall with her time of 22:42.1.

Fourth was junior and co-captain Tessa Kline (Springfield, MA) in a time of 22:46.9, and rounding out the scoring five for the team was freshman Kailey O'Brien (Elkhorn, NE) who took home Lion of the Meet honors as voted by her team, clocking a time of 23:35.1 over the newly established 6k course. "Kailey stepped up for us," Curtis said.  "Her poise as a freshman was impressive."

The top seven also included freshman Collette Heil (Nahant, MA) in 23:43.8 and junior Emma Ronan (Northbridge, MA) in 24:08.4, both of whom have shown steady progress through the fall. Alex Zanon (Campbell, CA), Kelsey Calhoun (Colorado Springs, CO), and Anna Bridges (Denver, CO)  completed the Lions' ten-athlete roster for the conference championship running 24:24.9, 24:43.8, and 24:49.6 respectively. 

With one race remaining, LMU will regroup and turn their attention to the NCAA West Regional Championships, set for Friday, November 15 in Sacramento, California at Haggin Oaks Golf Course. "We're not done yet," Curtis said. "We're taking the lessons from this race, and looking forward to taking another shot at our conference rivals next week."
 
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Players Mentioned

Ava Boyd

Ava Boyd

Junior
Rylee Guinn

Rylee Guinn

Junior
Tessa Kline

Tessa Kline

Junior
Emma Ronan

Emma Ronan

Junior
Hayden Washington

Hayden Washington

Senior
Kelsey Calhoun

Kelsey Calhoun

Freshman
Kailey O

Kailey O'Brien

Freshman
Anna Bridges

Anna Bridges

Sophomore
Alex Zanon

Alex Zanon

Junior

Players Mentioned

Ava Boyd

Ava Boyd

Junior
Rylee Guinn

Rylee Guinn

Junior
Tessa Kline

Tessa Kline

Junior
Emma Ronan

Emma Ronan

Junior
Hayden Washington

Hayden Washington

Senior
Kelsey Calhoun

Kelsey Calhoun

Freshman
Kailey O

Kailey O'Brien

Freshman
Anna Bridges

Anna Bridges

Sophomore
Alex Zanon

Alex Zanon

Junior