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Vandal, Viking alum Middleton to compete at World Half Marathon Championships

Coeur d’Alene High grad and former Oregon State and Idaho distance runner Kinsey (Gomez) Middleton will compete for Canada at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships on Saturday in Valencia, Spain.

She will be one of eight athletes, four men and four women, selected by Athletics Canada to compete this weekend, with the race starting at 9:05 a.m. Pacific. Middleton will be participating in her first IAAF World Championship event, after qualifying with a personal-best time of 1:12.30 at the Houston Half Marathon. That weekend, Middleton was the third fastest Canadian woman, posting the ninth-fastest time ever by a Canadian.

Middleton spent one season at Idaho, competing in both cross country and track and field. She was Idaho’s top finisher in every cross country meet she competed in, finishing no lower than third overall in any meet before the NCAA Championships. She won the 5000-meters at the Big Sky Indoor Track and Field Championships. At the Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2016 Middleton finished second in the 1,500 meters. Her personal best time of 4:22.10 is the fourth fastest time in Idaho history.

Even after leaving Idaho as one of the top distance runners in program history, Middleton has continued to improve and has posted personal-bests in the 1,500, 3,000, 5k, 10k and half marathon over the last year.