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#16 Utah Cross Country to Host Utah Open on Friday
10/24/2019 12:25 PM | Cross Country
The Utes host their first home and final regular season meet of the 2019 season.
#16 Utah Cross Country to Host Utah Open on Friday
Date: Friday, October 25, 2019
Location: Sunnyside Park | Salt Lake City, Utah
Host: University of Utah
Time: 1:00 p.m. (MT)
Utah Media Guide: 2019 Cross Country Media Guide (PDF)
Cross Country Statistics: 2019 Season Statistics (PDF)
Starting Line
The No. 16-ranked Utah cross country team stays home this week as they host their first home and final-regular season meet this Friday, Oct. 25, at Sunnyside Park in Salt Lake City. The meet will feature a women's 5k and men's 6k race with the women's 5k slated to begin at 1 p.m. MT followed by the men's 6k at 1:45 p.m. MT.
Utah Runners
Kennedy Powell
Grace Burnett
Sarah Newton
Brooke Manson
Karli Branch
Jade Mulvey
Nicole Griffiths
Sara Leonard
Ashley Licata
Astrid Lindgren
Kaitlyn Mercer
Abby Rasmussen
Sophie Ryan
Teams Competing
Utah Valley University
Utah State University
Southern Utah University
Weber State University
In the Rankings
After five weeks of cross country action, the Utes come in at No.16 in the nation according to the latest USTFCCCA National Coaches' poll. This marks the second-consecutive week and fourth overall the Utes have been in the national rankings. In the Mountain Region, the Utes sit in sixth and continue to look up at BYU - who has been on top of the region throughout the season. The highly competitive Mountain Region contains three teams that rank in the top-11 of the nation in No. 4 BYU, No. 5 Colorado and tied at No. 11 Northern Arizona and No. 11 New Mexico.
Fresh Legs
Karli Branch and Jade Mulvey have seen a lot of action this season both running in all five meets the Utes have competed in, including a first-place finish for Branch at the Color Country Invite. Brooke Manson and Grace Burnett will gear up to compete in their fifth race after coming off solid performances last weekend at the Nuttycombe Invite while Kennedy Powell, Sara Leonard and Kaitlyn Mercer prepare for their fourth race of the year.
Sara Newton, Nicole Griffiths and Astrid Lindgren will take part in their third meets as Lindgren looks to shake off the rust having not competed since the second race of the season at the CSI Invite. Rounding out the competitors for Utah are Ashley Licata, Abby Rasmussen and Sophie Ryan. Licata and Rasmussen look to have solid performances competing in the last meet of the regular season with Ryan making her 2019 season debut.
In 2018, Ryan competed in five meets recording a new 5k PR and a 44th-place finish at the Battle in Beantown. In addition, she recorded a new 6k PR with a 53rd-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships.
Last Time Out
Utah competed at one of the nation's premier cross country meets, the Nuttycombe Invitational, where itsecured an 11th-place finish amongst a field of 36 teams that included 19 nationally ranked squads. Led by redshirt junior Poppy Tank, the Utes topped eight nationally ranked teams that included #17 Notre Dame, Pac-12 foe #20 Oregon and #25 Minnesota.
No. 1 Arkansas took home the team title with 62 points, #2 Stanford took second (98), #6 NC State placed third (203), host #7 Wisconsin earned fourth (217) and #9 Michigan State took fifth (219).
Finishing behind Tank was Bella Wiliams (22:24.0). who registered a new personal 6k best at the meet and bested her previous record by 35 seconds. In a field of 243 runners, Tank and Williams had strong outings, finishing in 23rd and 24th-place. Rounding out the scoring runners for Utah was Sarah Feeny (56th), Cara Woolnough (86th) and Trina Moreno (120th). Emma Christensen (178th) and Kennedy Powell (220th) completed the seven entries for Utah in the Championship race.
In the "B" race, Ellie Lundgreen and Anna Busatto ran hard, finishing together in 45th and 46th-place as Grace Burnett and Sarah Newton placed four spots from each other in 62nd and 66th. Karli Branch was the fifth scoring runner for the Utes earning 80th. Brooke Manson and Jade Mulvey rounded things out and finished in 88th and 89th-place, respectively.
As a team, Utah finished in eighth totaling 178 points. Michigan State took home the team title in deciding fashion scoring 18 points and finished ahead of second-place Minnesota (89) by 71 points. Georgetown (103), Wisconsin (141) and Northern Arizona (143) rounded out the top-5 teams.
In the Classroom
The Utah cross country program strives for excellence in both athletics and academics and continues to get it done in the classroom. In the fall of 2018, the cross country team was one of seven teams at Utah 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 honorable mentions. 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 Ute Sadie Wassum were named honorable mention.
This marked 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 honors in their careers.
Up Next
The Utah cross country team will recharge and start preparing for the postseason as they travel to Monmouth, Ore., to compete at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships on Friday, Nov. 1. The meet will be held at the Ash Creek Preserve course and will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
Podcast
Click below to listen to head coach Kyle Kepler in his weekly cross country podcast. In this edition, coach Kepler gives a recap of the Nuttycombe Invitational along with more information about the first home meet of the season the Ute's will be hosting this weekend.
Players Mentioned
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