Former Dawson County three-sport star Katie Lebel just completed a very successful freshman season at the University of Redlands in California.

Lebel competed on the cross country and track teams this past season.

The University of Redlands competes in the Southern California Intercollegiate Conference.

During cross country season in the fall, Lebel placed in the top 70 in three races.

In September, she finished 59th out of 77 runners in her first-ever college event.

The 6K race was held at Cal State-San Bernardino. She finished with a time of 27:20 to help her team capture a 27th place finish.

At the SCIAC Multi-Dual Meet in October Lebel came in 59th out of 102 runners.

In her final meet of the cross country season, Lebel placed 68th of 105 runners at the SCIAC Championships in Chino, California. She crossed the finish line with a time of 27:34.95.

Lebel began her track season mainly competing in field events. By the end of the season she had improved tremendously in the hammer throw, javelin (neither sport is sanctioned in the state of Georgia) and discus.

Her best finish in the hammer throw came at the Redland Invitational Meet. Lebel tossed the hammer 41.10 meters (134.80 feet) to come in second place. At the same meet, Lebel tossed the javelin 35.56 meters (116.64 feet) to come in third place.

In the SCIAC championships held last week, Lebel finished the season strong with a sixth place finish in the hammer with a toss of 142’4,” a seventh place finish in the javelin with a throw of 114.07,’ and a 17th place finish in the discus.

With the effort, Lebel helped her team to a sixth place showing in the event.

Lebel is the daughter of Jennifer Kruse. She is majoring in art.

E-mail Pam Jacobs at sports@dawsonnews.com.