That changed at the NJCAA Region XI meet on the Iowa Lakes campus Friday afternoon when sophomore Hannah Palmeter placed second in a school-record time of 17 minues, 51 seconds as No. 18 NIACC placed third with 63 points.
Palmeter broke the school record of 18:15 set by Anna Buenneke at the regional meet in 2011. Palmeter's previous best was a 18:20 at this season's St. Ambrose Fighting Bee Invitational.
"I want to say I felt pretty good," said Palmeter, who earned first-team all-region honors for the second straight year. "At the beginning of the race, like most runners, there's some butterflies.
"I wasn't 100 percent, but I felt pretty good. It turned out to be a better race than I thought it would be. I didn't think I'd do that well."
NIACC received second-team all-region honors from sophomore Nicolle Hewett, who placed eighth in a personal-best 20:16. Freshman Alyssa Cowan placed 15th (honorable mention all-region) in 20:56, freshman Lattie Crozier plaed 17th (honorable mention all-region) in a personal-best 21:09 and Kalama Towarup was 22nd (honorable mention all-region) in 21:34.
No. 1 Iowa Central won the women's team title with 25 points and Iowa Western was second with 44 points. The Tritons' Viola Kebenei was the women's individual champion in 17:25.
Palmeter, who was a second-team all-American last year, said she knew was Kebenei was capable of heading into the regional meet.
"I'd heard that she'd run 17:11," Palmeter said. "I could try to stay with her, but the strategy was to just run my own race."
The No. 11 NIACC men placed second in Friday's regional meet with 54 points. No. 2 Iowa Central won the meet with 21 points and No. 9 Iowa Western was third with 65 points.
Freshman Trey Simons led the Trojans with a fifth-place finish in the 8K race in 25:38 earning first-team all-region honors. Sophomore Jaime Zarate was seventh in 25:54 earning second-team all-region honors.
Also for NIACC, freshman Imad Amenzou was 12th (honorable mention all-region) in 26:46, freshman Tyler Randall was 13th (honorable mention all-region) in 27:21 and freshman Colby Kraninger was 24th (honorable mention all-region) in 27:52.
Now Palmeter and the NIACC men and women set their sights on the NJCAA national meet in Lubbock, Texas on Nov. 8.
"I just want to get better," Palmeter said. "I want to get another PR at the end of the season."
Women's team standings - Iowa Central 25, Iowa Western 44, NIACC 63, Scott CC 123, DMACC 136, Iowa Lakes 161, Southwestern 198, Indian Hills 218.
NIACC results - 2. Hannah Palmeter 17:51; 8. Nicolle Hewett 20:16; 15. Alyssa Cowan 20:56; 17. Lattie Crozier 21:09; 22. Kalama Towarup 22:13; 34. Leta Jaquis 22:46.
Individual champion - Viola Kebenei (Iowa Central) 17:25.
Men's team standings - Iowa Central 21, NIACC 54, Iowa Western 65, Southwestern 119, Indian Hills 141, Scott CC 152, Iowa Lakes 246.
NIACC results - 5. Trey Simons 25:38; 7. Jaime Zarate 25:54; 12. Imad Amenzou 26:46; 13. Tyler Randall 27:21; 24. Colby Kraninger 27:52; 37. Oryiane Espeut 29:16; 45. Ricky Jeray 30:04.
Individual champion - Elisha Kipruto (Iowa Central) 24:20.
