Tallahasse FL (Valley City State) – Valley City State’s Frida Barrera competed in her first National Cross Country Championships Friday at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida.

The freshman placed 73rd out of 331 runners in the race, finishing in a time of 22:38.3. 

Head Coach Laquone Robinson said “Today was truly special the best finish in school history at a national meet for a 6k race. Frida split an 18:49 through 5k, just three seconds off her PR during the race. Her goal was to crack the top 100, and she went out and finished 73rd, far surpassing expectations after coming in ranked 124th. Huge step forward for her, and definitely a sign of great things to come!”National Meet Results

Barrera a great start to her Viking career in 2025. She competed in six races with three top five finishes, including a third-place finish at the Frontier Conference Championships to earn All-Conference status.

Her 22:28.9 at the conference meet was 1.1 seconds off the school record.