COLUMBIA, Mo. – The LSU women’s cross-country season came to a close as they finished 23rd overall at the NCAA Championships on Saturday.
Saturday’s meet at the Gans Creak XC Course marked the first time LSU has made an appearance in the cross country final. Only five total women had made the meet as individuals in the 46 years of LSU cross country prior.
The Tigers finished 23rd overall in their first of many more appearances to come with a point total of 530. LSU started off hot and sat in 12th through the first 1k, spending the first half of the race in the teens before dropping down to the 20’s after 4k.
“My fear going into this was we hadn’t been in this kind of dense race before,” said Coach Houston Franks. “I wasn’t sure how we would handle it, but we handled it really well.”
Freshman Abigael Chemnagei had her best meet yet as a Tiger with an 80th-overall finish (67 points) in her first NCAA Championship to lead the way. She clocked a personal-best time of 19:48.5 in the 6k, beating her previous PR of 19:56.4 from the Arturo Barrios Invitational in October. Chemnagei became just the second LSU woman to ever place in the top 100 at the NCAA meet, only Charlotte Mayock placing higher (62nd) at the 1996 meet.
The second scorer for LSU was freshman Edna Chepkemoi, taking 104th overall (89 pts) with a time of 19:57.9. The track All-American closed the season as the third-highest finisher in LSU XC history at the meet. This marked the second time this fall that Chepkemoi went under the 20-minute barrier in the 6k.
Sophomore Yuya Sawada closed a stellar season for LSU with another sub-20, going 19:58.7 to finish 106th overall (89 pts). The Japanese star made a huge jump from last season where she finished 76th at the NCAA South Central regional. She closes 2025 with two sub-20-minute races in the 6k, where a year ago she was unable to break the 21-minute barrier.
Another freshman to break out for LSU was Micaela Villarreal who was fourth in the Tiger lineup and finished 133rd overall (106 pts) with a time of 20:08.4. The time of 20:08.4 shaved almost 30 seconds off of her PR of 20:37.9 from the Arturo Barrios Invitational.
Closing out the top five scorers for LSU was senior Ella Chesnut as the only Tiger to ever appear in two NCAA XC Championships in their career. Chesnut finished 218th overall (181 pts) with a time of 20:47.7, her second-best time of the season.
“It’s a young team and I think during the season we had at least three, or maybe more, different people as our number one runner. Everyone was almost interchangeable at times. This team just practices and trains great together.”
This meet closes the best cross-country season in LSU history and will precede another entertaining spring on the track in 2026. Although the distance team will be without two of the best runners in program history due to graduation, Michaela Rose and Lorena Rangel Batres, Franks and assistant coach Sylvia Russell are looking forward to who will step up next.
“The future is definitely bright. We have to keep developing people and that’s what we’ve done a really good job of with six of our eight top runners from last year graduating. It’s a huge step for the program and it gives us a really good amount of momentum going into the spring and into the track season.”
Results – NCAA Championships
Women’s Team Scores
1. NC State – 114 pts
2. BYU – 130 pts
3. Oregon – 153 pts
4. New Mexico – 216 pts
5. Florida – 225 pts
6. Stanford – 268 pts
7. Notre Dame – 278 pts
8. Northern Arizona – 279 pts
9. West Virginia – 280 pts
10. Penn State – 406 pts
23. LSU – 530 pts
LSU Women’s 6k Times
80. Abigael Chemnagei – 19:48.5 (67 pts)
104. Edna Chepkemoi – 19:57.9 (87 pts)
106. Yuya Sawada– 19:58.7 (89 pts)
133. Micaela Villarreal – 20:08.4 (106 pts)
218. Ella Chesnut – 20:47.7 (181 pts)
257. Ahry Comer – 21:44.6
258. Svenya Stoyanoff – 21:53.5
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