Screaming and hugging, the women cross country runners celebrated their third consecutive national title on November 19 for a joyous hour or two. “We couldn’t help yelling about the ‘three-peat,’ but mostly we were so grateful to have run together,” says senior Arianna Lambie, who ended her collegiate career by leading the Stanford pack across the finish line, with a ninth-place time of 20:18.2.
Lambie has been named Pac-10 Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year for the third consecutive year. And head coach Peter Tegen is both the Pac-10 and NCAA Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.
By finishing in the top 10 of the 6,000-meter race for the third straight year, Lambie contributed hugely to her fourth NCAA team title—and won her 12th All-American honors. In October, she had become the second woman to win the individual Pac-10 title for the 6,000 three years in a row, with a time of 19:40.7, when the women Cardinal took home the conference title for the 12th straight year.
The numbers are impressive, but the earth systems major who’s earning a co-terminal master’s degree would rather talk about the “why” of long-distance running. Every time she and her teammates board a plane, she thinks to herself, “We’ve got a job to do this weekend, and it’s gonna be fun.” Once the race begins, she looks toward the horizon: “There’s always something greater [than myself] to run for.” When someone passes her, the serious arguments start. “You’re like, ‘Should I give in? What’s the point of this?’ Six thousand meters is a long time, and there’s room for doubt. It’s a challenge to overcome those doubts and convince yourself to go through the hard point in a race. And that’s one of my favorite victories.”
As her mother raced from one mile marker to another on the Terre Haute, Ind., course, and her dad videotaped as much of the NCAA race as he could, Lambie was hanging back from the race leaders, waiting for the moment when she would surge ahead. “Going into this race, I probably had more doubts than I’ve had before. But I decided that I might as well believe I was as fit as ever—and I actually did believe it. That was a real accomplishment.”
Next up: the Olympic trials at the end of June. “Extremely nerve-wracking.” Lambie pauses. “But it will just be fun to go.”
