Utah Cross Country Recharged and Ready for Joe Piane Invitational

Friday, October 4

South Bend, Ind.

All Day

University of Utah

Joe Piane Invitational

Utah Cross Country Recharged and Ready for Joe Piane Invitational

10/2/2019 5:15 PM | Cross Country

2019 Joe Piane Field Joe Piane Course Map Joe Piane Invitational Meet Information Live Results

The Utes make the trip to Notre Dame, Ind., for their first big meet of the season.

Utah Women's Cross Country at Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational

Date: October 4, 2019
Location: Burke Golf Course | Notre Dame, Ind.
Host: Notre Dame University
Time: 1:00 p.m. (EDT)
Utah Media Guide: 2019 Cross Country Media Guide (PDF)
Cross Country Statistics: 2019 Season Statistics (PDF)

Starting Line
After taking just under a month off from racing, the Utah women's cross country team is recharged and ready to make the trip to Notre Dame, Ind., to compete at the 64th annual Joe Piane Invitational. The meet will take place on Friday, Oct. 4, at the Burke Golf Course and is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m. ET/11 a.m. MT with the women's blue division 5k race. Utah's more experienced runners will be competing in the blue race while their developing runners will compete in the open race.

Utah Runners

Blue Race
Sarah Feeny
Poppy Tank
Scarlet Dale
Bella Williams
Cara Woolnough
Sarah Newton
Trina Moreno
Emma Christensen

Open Race
Karli Branch
Grace Burnett
Ellie Lundgreen
Brooke Manson
Jade Mulvey
Kennedy Powell
Sara Leonard

Fresh Legs
Feeny, Tank, Dale, Williams, Woolnough and Newton will all be making their 2019 cross country debuts this Friday. Last season, Feeny, Williams and Woolnough competed at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships. Williams placed 56th, Woolnough captured 47th and Feeny finished in 25th earning all-region honors. This will be Tank's first cross country race dating back to 2017 where she placed 21st at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships earning all-region honors. Dale looks to build off of an impressive freshman campaign as she registered her best finish last season at the Battle of Beantown placing 14th. In her second year of cross country, Newton looks to be an integral part of the team as she competed in a total of four races last season.

Notable Teams Competing
Utah will face stiff competition as they will be competing against a field that includes 10 nationally ranked teams. This year's 24-team field includes: #1 Colorado, #2 New Mexico, #6 Washington, #9 Wisconsin, #12 Notre Dame (host), #14 Ole Miss, #16 Iowa State, #17 Florida State, #25 Boston College and #29 Minnesota.

Last Time Out
The Utes competed at the CSI (College of Southern Idaho) Invite where they placed 10 runners inside the top-20 finishers and as a team captured second-place. Overall, the Utes had a total of 13 runners competing with eight of them finishing inside the top-15.

Junior Trina Moreno paced the Utes earning a third-place finish in a time of 18:28.60, while freshmen Karli Branch and Ellie Lundgreen battled it out finishing in sixth and seventh place, respectively. Branch and Lundgreen both recorded new college bests, finishing with the same time of 18:45.90. Sophomore Kennedy Powell finished just in front of teammate Emma Christensen to secure eighth-place as both registered a time of 18:48.40.

Weber State University took home the team title finishing with a total of 24 points as the Utes finished in second with 33 points. Northwest Nazarene finished in third with 96 points, host CSI earned fourth with 109 and Westminster finished in fifth with 132 points.

In the Classroom
The Utah cross country program is one of the top performing programs in terms of academics at the University of Utah. In fall of 2018, the cross country team was one of seven teams that finished with cumulative GPA above a 3.5.

Last season, the Utes had nine student-athletes named to the Pac-12 All-Academic team with four of them being named to the first and second team and five being named honorable mention. Sophomore Cara Woolnough earned first team honors while senior Anna Busatto and juniors Astrid Lindgren and Natalie Platil were tabbed second team members. Aubrey Argyle, Emma Christensen, Sarah Feeny, Sarah Newton and former athlete Sadie Wassum were named honorable mention.

This marks the second Pac-12 All-Academic honor Feeny has received (2015) and the first time Woolnough, Busatto, Lindgren, Platil, Argyle, Christensen and Newton were awarded cross country all-academic in their careers.

Fans can follow the Utah cross country program on Twitter (@Utah_trackfield), Facebook (UtahTrackXC) and on Instagram (@UtahTrackXC).