No. 10 Women of Utah Set Eyes on Pac-12 Championships

Friday, October 28

Riverside, CA

9:30 AM

University of Utah

Pac-12 Championships

Photo by: Molly Kaiser

No. 10 Women of Utah Set Eyes on Pac-12 Championships

10/26/2022 12:38 AM | Cross Country

Meet Central Live Results Course Map Pac-12 Record Book

The 10th-ranked Women of Utah head down to Southern California for the Pac-12 Championships this Friday, Oct. 28.

SALT LAKE CITY – The 10th-ranked Utah cross country team heads down to the Inland Empire this weekend to kick off the championships season at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships – which will be held at the UCR Ag-Ops Course. The gun is scheduled to go off at 9:40 a.m. (MT) / 8:40 a.m. (PT) on Pac-12 Networks with Jim Watson and Tom Feuer on the call.

PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS (Meet Central)
DATE: Friday, Oct. 28
WHERE: UCR Ag-Ops Course (Course Map)
WHEN: 9:40 a.m. (MT) / 8:40 a.m. (PT)
PAC-12 RECORD BOOK: https://bit.ly/3D3RHf8
LIVE RESULTS: https://bit.ly/3zjAAFc
PARTICIPANTS: Arizona, Arizona State, California, #11 Colorado, #12 Oregon, #30 Oregon State, #9 Stanford, UCLA, USC, #10 Utah, #19 Washington, Washington State
UTAH PARTICIPANTS: Keelah Barger, Karli Branch, Kylie Hartnett, Morgan Jensen, Ariel Keklak, Lauren Peterson, Simone Plourde, Maddie Reed, Emily Venters, Erin Vringer

THE LINE UP
The Utes will send 10 runners to the Pac-12 Championships this weekend headlined by Emily Venters, Keelah Barger, Ariel Keklak and Simone Plourde. Freshman Erin Vringer, who has been Utah's No. 5 runner will look to make an impact with teammates Lauren Peterson, Morgan Jensen, Maddie Reed and Kylie Hartnett.

Of the 10, Venters and Plourde earned All-Pac-12 honors while Barger just missed the honor with a 16th-place finish at last year's Pac-12 Championships. Additionally, Jensen, Keklak and Peterson all have experience running at the conference championships meet.

LAST HURRAH FOR VENTERS
Heading into her final season as a collegian, Emily Venters has definitely set the tone. The Lawrence, Kan., product opened her season winning the Roy Griak Invitational individual title with a time of 20:33.2 – which was the fifth-fastest time at the Les Bolstad Golf Course since the race was moved to 6k. She then followed up with a sixth-place finish at a stacked Nuttycombe Invitational behind a run of 20:02.8 on the Zimmer Championship Course.

PAC-12 CHAMPS REWIND
The Women of Utah shocked the world last season after finishing second-overall as a team, its highest finish since joining the Pac-12, behind a brilliant run from Emily Venters – who finished third overall with a mark of 20:40.7.

Both the team finish for Utah (2nd) and individual finish by Venters (3rd) was a new program best. The previous high for a team finish was third in 2019 while Grayson Murphy held the previous top individual finish (fifth) back in 2017.

Utah's three All-Pac-12 honorees last season (Venters, Cara Woolnough, Simone Plourde) tied with the 2019 squad for the most awardees (Poppy Tank, Bella Williams, Sarah Feeny). Venters, who earned First-Team All-Pac-12 honors last season looks to join Tank (2019-20) as the only other Woman of Utah to earn first-team selections back-to-back years.

UP NEXT
Utah will get a couple weeks rest after the Pac-12 Championships before it heads Albuquerque, N.M., for the NCAA Mountain Regionals (Nov. 11) – which is arguable the toughest region in the entire country. The gun is scheduled to go off at the UNM North Golf Course at 11 a.m. (MT) for the women followed by the men's race at Noon.

For the latest news and information on the Utah cross country and track & field programs, fans can stay connected online at www.UtahUtes.com and on social media by following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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