Neither rain, nor sleet, or in the case of Saturday’s NCAA West Regional Championship, snow, could stop Chico State’s Kara Lubieniecki from continuing her outstanding cross country season. The senior from Lakewood, Colo. racked up her fourth straight top 10 finish, earned All-West Region honors for the third consecutive year, and helped Chico State advance to the NCAA Championships with a seventh place showing on the snow-lined Lake Padden course in Bellingham, Wash. Lubieniecki’s latest outstanding long-distance endeavor is also good for the Wildcat of the Week award.
Lubieniecki finished the 6,000-meter course with a time of 23:00.7, nearly seven seconds better than Wildcats teammate Jonah Weeks, who came in ninth overall. Lubiniecki was one of five Chico State runners to earn All-West Region honors on the day as the Wildcats finished second to Alaska Anchorage in the region’s team standings.
Lubieniecki now eyes her second straight All-American honor in what will be her final cross country race as a Wildcat, as Chico State prepares for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, taking place Saturday, Dec. 4 at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Louisville.
