GENEVA, Ohio—Lewis & Clark track & field senior Riley Buese stepped to the line one final time as a Pioneer student-athlete. She crossed the finish line 12.5 laps later, as most decorated student-athlete in school history. 
 
Buese used a big final lap to capture third place overall in the women's 5,000M on Saturday afternoon at the Spire Institute. With her top-eight finish, she became the first student-athlete in school history to win eight All-American awards. 
 
Buese entered the event seeded 10^th out of 22 runners but made an early statement that she would battle for a spot on the podium. The senior sat in ninth place after the first two laps (600M) and saw the lead pack beginning to pull away. 
 
She made a big push over the next lap with a 76-second split, to move into the back of a group of four runners who were trying to track down eventual NCAA DIII Champion Penelope Greene of SUNY Geneseo. 
 
Buese would be content to sit at the back of the group for a few laps, as RPI's Jules Bleskoski and Vassar College Haley Schoenegge led the charge. Buese would push her way into fourth at the 1,800M mark and took third overall with a mile to go (3,600M down). 
 
It looked like Buese would comfortably finish third overall behind Greene and Connecticut College's Grace McDonough – as all three runners were separated by five seconds. 
 
Buese continued to put out strong laps of 81 seconds but found herself in a dead heat with Concordia University's (Wisconsin) Ainara Sainz De Rozas with two laps to go. 
 
Sainz De Rozas took a 0.23 second lead over Buese into the final 400M. Lewis & Clark's senior was not going to be denied. Buese laid down a final  lap of 75.49 seconds to not only pass Sainz De Rosas, but to beat her by 2.10 seconds and finish third overall. 
 
Her final time of 16:30.64 was a personal-best and broke her own program record. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Buese broke a tie with L&C Hall of Fame swimmer Debbie Heim Martinez with her eighth career All-American award. 
• Her time of 16:30.64 was a career-best in the event by 4.04 seconds. She improved her season-best time by 6.00 seconds. 
• Lewis & Clark women's track & field finished in a tie for 17^th as a team behind Buese's 14 points. The Pioneers finished first amongst all West Region teams in the team standings. 
• Buese wraps up her career with four top-three finishes at National Championship Meets. She placed second in the 10K on Thursday and finished in third place in the 10K at the 2024 Outdoor Nationals and third in the 5K at this year's Indoor Nationals. 
• She finishes her career with 29 career points at National Championship Meets. 
• Buese matched L&C Hall of Famer Paige Daugherty Wescott for the most career All-American honors in track & field (six). She also added two career All-American accolades in cross country.  All six of Buese's All-American awards in track & field were First Team honors (first through eighth place). 
• During her senior season, Buese earned five All-American honors: Cross Country (17^th), Indoor 5K (3^rd), Indoor 3K (8^th), Outdoor 10K (2^nd), Outdoor 5K (3^rd).
• Buese earned All-American honors in eight of her 10 career National Championship Races. She concludes her career as a eight-time All-American, nine-time Northwest Conference Champion, 12x All-Conference honoree and 20x All-Region award winner. She also owns nine program records. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Today's race marked the final time Buese will compete in the Pioneers Orange and Black. It also marked the final competition of the 2024-25 academic year for Lewis & Clark Athletics.