Koll Among Women Impacting ISU

AMES, Iowa ? Iowa State five-time All-American and NCAA champion Lisa Koll, currently studying in ISU's school of veterinary medicine, was honored Wednesday as one of 12 Women Impacting ISU. The award recognizes the achievement and contributions to the university by the honorees. A calendar featuring the 12 award recipients was unveiled Wednesday in a ceremony in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

Funding for the calendar is provided by a mini-grant from the Women's Enrichment Fund administered by the Women's Leadership Consortium and made available through the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost.

The Catt Associates, a student leadership organization affiliated with the Catt Center, sponsors the calendar. Members of Catt Associates publicize and collect the nominations; organize the recognition reception; and help design, order and distribute the calendars. A committee comprised of representatives of the Catt Associates, Catt Center and previous calendar honorees selected the 2010 recipients.

Koll is not the first individual with a role in Iowa State athletics to be honored. Iowa State senior associate athletics director Dr. Calli Sanders, former senior associate athletics director J. Elaine Hieber and former women's basketball standout Lyndsey Medders Fennelly were previously recognized.

Below is Lisa Koll's nomination:

You would be hard pressed to name a student-athlete who in the 118-year history of intercollegiate athletics at Iowa State University has brought more honor and distinction in so many ways to ISU than Lisa Koll. Lisa's world class athletic achievements complement her academic resume that is replete with honors that affirm the work ethic she possesses in anything that she starts.

This past year, the five-time All-American on the track was named the academic All-American of the Year nationally by CoSIDA. It was the second straight season in which she was named the top scholar-athlete nationally in track and field.

Her academic performance is worthy of the national recognition she has brought back to Iowa State. Lisa received her bachelor's degree in just three years, graduating summa cum laude with a 3.98 grade-point average. She is currently in her second year of veterinary medicine school at ISU. Lisa currently holds a graduate GPA of 3.9.

Lisa's athletic accomplishments are extraordinary. She burst onto the national running scene on April 4, 2008 when she won the 10,000-meter run at the Stanford Invitational in an American collegiate record 32:11.5. That effort was more than eight seconds faster than any American collegiate athlete had ever run in that event.

Under the guidance of head coach Corey Ihmels, Lisa won the 2008 Big 12 Conference indoor 5,000-meter title and placed second in the same event at the 2008 NCAA indoor championships. She earned All-America honors again at that NCAA meet in the 3,000-meter run. Lisa's achievements put her in the Iowa, national and international spotlight. The media attention was fortuitous for Iowa State as she is an excellent, eloquent ambassador for ISU.

Lisa won the 5,000-meter run and the 10,000-meter run at the 2008 Big 12 outdoor meet. Lisa's brightest moment could have been when she ran way from the field to win the 10,000-meter run at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. The crowd saw her lap all but five competitors, including three All-Americans en route to the victory stand.

Lisa's achievements have not come without adversity. After her first meet in the 2009 indoor season, Lisa suffered the first major injury of her career. She was forced to rest and rehabilitate her injury, missing the balance of the indoor season and the start of the outdoor season.

Though she was not 100 percent, Lisa stepped up and helped her team, winning the 10,000-meters and the 5,000 meters at the 2009 outdoor Big 12 Championship. After the competition, Lisa was named the Big 12 Conference athlete of the meet.

Lisa's persistence has paid off handsomely. She never lost focus during this entire experience and continues to be a team player universally respected by her teammates and her professors.

In addition to school and sport, Lisa worked at a veterinary hospital in Boulder, Colo. during the summer.

How is she viewed by her peers? Consider the following words of teammate and fellow All-American Betsy Saina about Lisa.

“Lisa Koll is really a great role model on our team,” Saina said. “(Lisa) is really putting a lot of effort into her training, that's why I am encouraging everyone on our team to train like Lisa Koll. When we are doing training, we may be going for sixty five (miles a week) and she will run seventy five. When we are going for ninety (miles a week) she is running one hundred and fifteen, which is really good. If I just follow the steps of Lisa Koll, I know that I will be successful.”

“Whatever Lisa accomplishes, I am not surprised,” Ihmels said. “She has remarkable focus. How else can you explain everything she has done beyond athletics? She graduates summa cum laude in three years in biology and now balances work, running and veterinary medical school training. She is truly remarkable.”

In 2008, Lisa was recognized individually before the Iowa House of Representatives and the Iowa Senate. She received a standing ovation in both chambers. It is hard to quantify which is more profound, the athletic and academic accomplishments of a native Iowan (Fort Dodge) who never won a state high school title or the unprecedented honor and international attention she has brought to Iowa State by her exemplary example.

Players Mentioned

Lisa Koll

Lisa Koll

Betsy Saina

Betsy Saina

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics