Upcoming Event: Cross Country versus Gans Creek Classic on September 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
8:00 AM
Cross Country
vs Gans Creek Classic
Friday, October 25
Salt Lake City, Utah
All Day
University of Utah
vs
Utah Open
Photo by: Brooke Frederickson
Burnett Paces Utah Cross Country in Final Regular-Season Meet
10/25/2019 4:57 PM | Cross Country
Grace Burnett led the way for the Utes Friday afternoon to close out the regular season.
SALT LAKE CITY - On a beautiful Friday afternoon, the No. 16-ranked Utah cross country team hosted the Utah Open at Sunnyside Park as they captured a third-place finish with a total of 57 points. True freshman Grace Burnett lead the charge finishing third overall in the women's 5k.
Beginning the race towards the rear, Burnett continued to run hard and gained multiple spots throughout to earn herself the third-place finish in 18:57.1. Karli Branch finished the race seven places back with a mark of 19:25.3 to capture 10th as Nicole Griffiths, Sara Leonard and Kailtyn Mercer crossed the finish-line together to round out the scoring runners for the Utes. Griffiths clocked a time of 19:58.4 for 22nd, Leonard finished in 23rd with a time of 20:02.6 while Mercer placed 25th with a 5k PR time of 20:07.8.
"I thought Grace Burnett was Grace Burnett like. That's what that true freshman has done all year and she is just a competitor as a racer and she doesn't get shaken during the race so I'm certainly excited for her performance and how she's doing," head coach Kyle Kepler said.
Also running for Utah was Abby Rasmussen (31st, 20:18.4), Astrid Lindgren (36th, 20:44.2) and Ashley Licata (39th, 21:17.0).
Running unattached for Utah was Natalie Platil and Sophie Ryan. Platil registered a time of 19:30.9 for 12th-place while Ryan competed in her first race of the season, securing 13th with a time of 19:31.5.
Utah State took home the meet title placing their runners five scoring runners 2-3-5-6-10, totaling 26 points. Utah Valley (48) nudged out Utah (57) by nine points to give the Wolverines the second-place finish.
"Today was a chance for some of our developing athletes to get out there and we also had a competition for some spots on the conference team as well so it was a dual purpose meet for us. Ultimately, I felt like the effort was there. We did a great job, we weren't afraid to get into the race and we had some kids up front early. We had a great crowd out here today and it was awesome to see," Kepler explained. "We're going to continue pushing forward and now we enter the championship portion of our schedule. This is where all that training and everything we've been doing we are going to try to bring to fruition and try to finish off what has been a pretty special season so far."
Utah will now turn its focus towards the Pac-12 Championships, which will be held at Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Oregon and hosted by Oregon State on Friday, Nov. 1. Fans can also catch the race on Pac-12 Networks.
Beginning the race towards the rear, Burnett continued to run hard and gained multiple spots throughout to earn herself the third-place finish in 18:57.1. Karli Branch finished the race seven places back with a mark of 19:25.3 to capture 10th as Nicole Griffiths, Sara Leonard and Kailtyn Mercer crossed the finish-line together to round out the scoring runners for the Utes. Griffiths clocked a time of 19:58.4 for 22nd, Leonard finished in 23rd with a time of 20:02.6 while Mercer placed 25th with a 5k PR time of 20:07.8.
"I thought Grace Burnett was Grace Burnett like. That's what that true freshman has done all year and she is just a competitor as a racer and she doesn't get shaken during the race so I'm certainly excited for her performance and how she's doing," head coach Kyle Kepler said.
Also running for Utah was Abby Rasmussen (31st, 20:18.4), Astrid Lindgren (36th, 20:44.2) and Ashley Licata (39th, 21:17.0).
Running unattached for Utah was Natalie Platil and Sophie Ryan. Platil registered a time of 19:30.9 for 12th-place while Ryan competed in her first race of the season, securing 13th with a time of 19:31.5.
Utah State took home the meet title placing their runners five scoring runners 2-3-5-6-10, totaling 26 points. Utah Valley (48) nudged out Utah (57) by nine points to give the Wolverines the second-place finish.
"Today was a chance for some of our developing athletes to get out there and we also had a competition for some spots on the conference team as well so it was a dual purpose meet for us. Ultimately, I felt like the effort was there. We did a great job, we weren't afraid to get into the race and we had some kids up front early. We had a great crowd out here today and it was awesome to see," Kepler explained. "We're going to continue pushing forward and now we enter the championship portion of our schedule. This is where all that training and everything we've been doing we are going to try to bring to fruition and try to finish off what has been a pretty special season so far."
Perfect day for a race, at home-Great job @Utah_trackfield! pic.twitter.com/LnTH0yIdb3
— Mark Harlan (@MarkHarlan_AD) October 25, 2019
Utah will now turn its focus towards the Pac-12 Championships, which will be held at Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Oregon and hosted by Oregon State on Friday, Nov. 1. Fans can also catch the race on Pac-12 Networks.
###
Players Mentioned
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
Coach Kyle Kepler celebrates 20 years at the helm of Utah Cross Country/Track & Field
Monday, August 11
Utah Cross Country's McKaylie Caesar Feature - A Medical Miracle
Tuesday, April 29
Utes Insider – Cross Country Runner Bella Williams
Wednesday, November 17
2019 Track & XC - Meet the Teams
Thursday, September 05