Koll Set for Final NCAA Cross Country meet

AMES, Iowa- Iowa State six-time All-American Lisa Koll has been a great representative for Iowa State, academically and athletically. Her journey as a Cyclone athlete will be complete after this academic year. The Fort Dodge native has demonstrated what kind of leader she can be.

"I want to stay focused for the rest of the season, and stay healthy," Koll said. "Cross country is very competitive, but there's a lot of team motivation."

Koll has achieved many honors as a runner. She has earned Academic All-Big 12 first-team honors all four years and was the CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year in 2008-09. This fall she placed second at the Roy Griak Invitational. She placed third at the Big 12 Championship and at the NCAA Regional meet. She still has an indoor and outdoor track season left for 2010.

"Lisa has had many impacts academically and physically," ISU head coach Corey Ihmels said. "She has a positive attitude, and she's been a model student-athlete. We're not going to forget what she has given to the program over the last five years. She has helped make this program better, and we're going to build on that."

As Monday's NCAA Championship approaches, the ISU women's cross country team is ready to race. This will be Koll's third appearance at this meet, but her last running cross country in Cardinal and Gold.

"I'm pretty excited about this meet," Koll said. "Training has been pretty good over the last few weeks. Now that I kind of know what to expect, my goal is to stay more relaxed. The first time I was there, I was very antsy. As a team, we haven't seen our best yet, and I hope we'll do well."

"Lisa is very excited about Monday," Ihmels said. "I think it's going to be her day. We haven't put together a team where everyone is ready, but I'm confident that the women will race well (as a team)."

As Koll continues to complete her final year of college at Iowa State, her balance of cross country and schoolwork is coming to an end. For any student-athlete the balance can be a struggle, but Koll has taken the challenges in stride.

"It's always been a challenge for me to balance both," Koll said. "Last year was very hard because I wasn't running, due to my injury. Over the summer, I focused on getting healthy. I had to change a lot to make school and cross country work better. I was able to lower my class credit load, and that really helped me focus more on cross country, and get more sleep."

Over the past five years, Koll has been an ideal leader for her team. The six-time All-American and Academic All-Big 12 honors athlete has much to smile about.

"I think what I'm to miss most about this program is my teammates and coaches," Koll said. "Sometimes when I have a bad day, I know I can go to practice, and talk to my teammates. The atmosphere is great."

"One of our fears was that the team was young, but Lisa has lead by her actions," Ihmels said. "She has a good level of commitment. When she runs well, everyone else does too."

Koll wants to continue running as long as she can. The best is yet to come for Lisa Koll.