No. 16 Utah Cross Country Sets Sights on Big 12 Championships Saturday

Saturday, October 31

Stillwater, OK / Greiner Family Cross Country Course

9:00 AM

University of Utah

Big 12 Championships

10/29/2026 6:13 PM | Cross Country

Meet Central ESPN+Live Results

The Women of Utah head to Stillwater, Okla., for the Big 12 Cross Country Championships this Saturday at 9 a.m. (MDT).

SALT LAKE CITY – The 16th-ranked Utah cross country team is headed to Stillwater, Okla., for the 2026 Big 12 Cross Country Championships this Saturday, Oct. 31. Gun is slated to go off at 9 a.m. (MDT) at the Greiner Family Cross Country Course and can be seen on ESPN+.

BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
HOST: Oklahoma State
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 31
TIME: 9:00am (MDT)
LOCATION: Stillwater, OK
VENUE: Greiner Family Cross Country Course
MEET CENTRAL: View Meet Central
LIVE STREAM: ESPN+
LIVE RESULTS: View Live Results
UTAH PARTICIPANTS: Marika Couture, Josie Fale, Tayla Gunton, Rebecca O'Keefe, Annastasia Peters, Bri Rinn, Mackenzie Rogers, Piper Simpson, Erin Vringer, Millie Wilcox
TEAM PARTICIPANTS: Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, #1 BYU, Cincinnati, #10 Colorado, Houston, #18 Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, #7 Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, UCF, #16 Utah, #3 West Virginia

FROM THE LINE
The Women of Utah will send 10 racers to the Big 12 Cross Country Championships this weekend. Of the 10 competitors for Utah, the only runner without conference championships experience is freshman Piper Simpson. Erin Vringer, Annastasia Peters, Tayla Gunton and Mackenzie Rogers head into the meet with the most experience having competed in three conference championships. Meanwhile, Marika Couture, Josie Fale, Rebecca O'Keefe, Bri Rinn and Millie Wilcox all have competed in one other conference championship race.

#BIG12XC RUNDOWN
Like the NCAA Mountain Regional meet, the Big 12 Cross Country Championships will serve as one of the toughest in the country with six ranked teams vying for the league title.

Saturday will mark the third time the Women of Utah will compete at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships since joining the league in 2024-25. Utah finished third-overall in 2024 and was led by Erin Vringer's eighth-place finish (19:56.48). The Utes then placed sixth-overall as a team in 2025 behind Annastasia Peter's 16th-place run of 19:59.4.

#PROUTES
A pair of Utah alumnae had a solid weekend of racing this past weekend. Former All-American Emily Venters kicked things off in Valencia, Spain, when she posted the fastest finish by an American with a personal best run of 1:07.37 in the Valencia Half Marathon for 17th-overall.

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Back stateside, McKaylie Caesar won the Malibu Moves Half Marathon race with a time of 1:18.29 – which was good for fourth-overall among all racers. This is the second victory in 2026 for Caesar, who won the Carlsbad Marathon back on Jan. 18 with a time of 2:52.21 – which was also good for 12th-overall among all competitors.

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UP NEXT
Competing in arguably the toughest regional in the nation, Utah will toe the line against 16 other teams at the NCAA Mountain Regional meet on Friday, Nov. 13, at the UNM North Golf Course. Gun is slated to go off at 9 a.m. (MDT) in Albuquerque, N.M., with a spot at the NCAA Championships on the line. Should the Women of Utah not earn an automatic bid (top-2 finisher), they will find out if they earned a berth to the championships on Sunday, Nov. 14, beginning at 3 p.m. (MT) on NCAA.com.

For the latest news and information on the Utah cross country and track & field programs, fans can stay connected online at www.UtahUtes.com, on social media by following on Facebook, X and Instagram or stay connected with Utah360 app.

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