Buese Races Into the Record Books
[ CROSS COUNTRY ] Riley Buese, a junior biology major from Denver, has continued to distinguish herself as one of the top distance runners in Lewis & Clark history.
Credit: D3photography.com
Riley Buese, a junior biology major from Denver, has continued to distinguish herself as one of the top distance runners in Lewis & Clark history. During her first two seasons on the women’s cross country and track and field teams, Buese emerged as a premier runner in the Northwest Conference (NWC) and the West Region. This academic year, she’s reached a whole new level. Buese earned her first two All-American honors of her collegiate career as part of a banner season.
In the fall, Buese earned her first career All-American honors by posting the highest-ever finish and fastest time by a women’s cross country runner at Nationals in program history. Her 17th-place finish at Nationals was an improvement of 148 spots from her result at the 2022 Division III National Championship Meet. She joined L&C Hall of Famer Amanda Phillips BA ’08, MAT ’11 as the second Women’s Cross Country All-American in school history. The All-American award capped off a phenomenal cross country season for Buese and the program in general.
Buese also won her first-ever Northwest Conference cross country title, becoming the fourth student-athlete in women’s program history to win the individual crown.
As a team, women’s cross country finished second in the NWC for the second straight year, and sophomore Malia Heien joined Buese in the top five finishers at NWCs. The men’s team placed second as well, their best finish since 2012, with first-year Evan Markelz earning NWC Rookie of the Year honors after finishing third overall at the conference meet. Buese, Heien, and Markelz all went on to garner All-Region accolades. Heien earned her first berth to a National Championship Meet and placed 125th overall.
Buese followed up her successful fall season by becoming the first Pioneer to earn a trip to the Indoor Track & Field Nationals since the 1980s. She broke her own program record in the 5K by over 35 seconds at the Ken Shannon Last Chance Meet to earn her spot at Nationals. At the Indoor National Championship Meet, Buese crossed the line in 16:53.55 to finish seventh overall. With her top-eight finish, Buese earned First Team All-American honors and became the first Pioneer to win Track and Field All-American honors since 2006. She will look to earn All-American honors in all three seasons this year during Outdoor Track and Field.
Buese opened the outdoor season by breaking a 25-year-old NWC record in the 10K on March 29 at the Stanford Invitational. She beat her own PR time in the event by almost 75 seconds (35:05.73) to post a top-10 result in Division III this spring.
