Utah Cross Country Set to Compete at BYU Invitational Friday

9/14/2011 12:00 AM | Cross Country

Sept. 14, 2011

SALT LAKE CITY - Coming off a first-place finish at the Nevada Twilight, the University of Utah women's cross country team heads south to compete at the BYU Invitational. The race will be held at the Cascade Golf Center in Orem, Utah and is scheduled to begin Friday at 6:30 p.m. MT.

"We will rest our top six or seven runners for this meet in anticipation of the Stanford Invitational the following weekend," said Utah head coach Kyle Kepler. "This meet will be an opportunity for those who are running to earn their way onto that travel team as well as provide more experience for the younger runners."

Seniors Brooke Casagranda and Alexis Davis will lead the way for the Utes with veteran leadership and experience.

Lucy Yates will make her second appearance of the season as she looks to continue momentum from a 13th-place finish at the Nevada Twilight.

The BYU Invitational will be the first opportunity of the season for the Utes to compete on a golf course. With not many terrain challenges, the runners will have the ability to focus on competing hard and posting good times.

Sophomores Nikki Dotter, AuraLea Fain, and Katelyn Stringfellow are slated to compete for the Utes. Fain and Stringfellow are making their season debuts coming off strong offseason workouts.

Freshmen Macee Nielson and Nicole Rietz will compete in their second collegiate races as they look to make the traveling team for the Stanford Invitational next week.