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Utah Looks to Join Pac-12 Contender Pack
9/16/2014 12:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 16, 2014
Coming off a successful 2013 campaign, the University of Utah cross country team has restocked talent as it heads into its fourth season as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Under the direction of 10th-year head coach Kyle Kepler, the Utes are looking for a breakthrough season and take their place among the elite teams in the Pac-12.
"The Pac-12 is the premier cross country league in the nation," Kepler said. "Twenty-five percent of the total All Americans (11 of 40 individuals) last season came from the Pac-12. We had half (20% of the total field) of our teams in the NCAA Championships."
"Our goals continue to be a part of those statistics," Kepler continued. "We keep inching closer as we've had five individual qualifiers and an All-American in the last six years, but we need to breakthrough with our team and become a championship contender."
Entering her senior season, Rebekah Winterton is set to take the reigns as the leader of the team and the spark the Utes need to establish themselves as legitimate contenders. Last season, Winterton was an NCAA Qualifier for the first time in her collegiate career, where she placed 89th. Described by Kepler as being a `big-time leader,' Winterton will have to use that leadership to propel the Utes into the national spotlight.
Alongside Winterton at the head of the pack will be seniors Nicole Rietz and Lauren Mills, who have started the 2014 season with a bang. In the first two meets of the season, Rietz and Mills have been the one-two punch the Utes have needed to capture a pair of second-place finishes. At the Utah Open, Rietz clocked a 4000-meter time of 14:56.6 to claim sixth overall. Mills crossed the line just behind Rietz with a seventh-place time of 15:01.9.
The addition of five talented freshmen, Shaylen Crook, Sarah Feeny, Dakota Grossman, Claire MacMillan and Sadie Wassum, will add more depth to the already talented Ute roster. Leading this freshman group will be Feeny, who has already garnered national attention as a Footlocker All-American and is arguably the best distance runner to ever come out of Utah.
"We added a terrific freshmen group," Kepler said. "This group is highlighted by Feeny of Ogden, Utah, who set the all-time state records for 1600 and 3200 meters and broke the state meet course record en route to winning the state cross country championship. She also won two significant national-level 1600 meter races, the Adidas Grand Prix and the Brooks PR. Throw in Grossman (four-time Hawaii State cross country champion), Wassum (Wyoming State Indoor 800m champion), Crook (Oregon 4A State cross country champion), and MacMillan (fourth at the California State cross country championships and the number two runner on the state champion team) and we have some great additions to our program."
The combination of experience and new talent the Utes possess should result in the Utes becoming a force to be reckoned with. Although the Utes were picked No. 21 nationally in flotrack.org's Saucony Cross Country Countdown at the beginning of the season, Kepler and his staff tries to not let the higher expectations affect them as the championship season approaches.
"While the recognition from a source like flotrack.org is terrific for our program and shows the type of respect we are gaining as a program, we can't worry about what other people think of us," Kepler said. "Rankings such as this are always based on performing perfectly with your best available athletes. Unfortunately, the reality of almost every sport is that you have to deal with illness, injury, or some other less than perfect scenario. Teams who perform and place well at the end of the season are almost always those who have `weathered' a storm or two during the year and have overcome some difficult circumstances. We will most definitely have our own issues to overcome and I expect we will do so with great effort and having a few good surprise performances and breakouts as we have in previous seasons."
The Utes compete next at the Montana State Invitational on Sept. 20 in Bozeman, Mont. The Pac-12 Championships take place Oct. 31 in Oakland, Calif., followed by the NCAA Regional Championships on Nov. 14 in Albuquerque, N.M., and the NCAA Championships on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind.
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