RENO, Nev. – The Utah cross country team finished in second place, behind Nevada, in the Nevada Chase Race Friday night at the Sierra Sage Golf Course. Freshman
Poppy Tank led both teams finishing in first place with a time of 22:06.1.
"The overall winner was
Poppy Tank in her first collegiate race in 22:06 for 6000 meters which I thought was a very good time considering the nature of the meet," head coach
Kyle Kepler said.
With the Chase Race format, there were several different start times including some runners starting up to two minutes after the first group of runners began. Start times were later subtracted from the runner's final time.
Freshman
Jade Mulvey finished in seventh place in a time of 23:14.8. Freshman
Nicole Griffiths finished the race with a time of 23:39.6 to earn 12
th place.
Rounding out Utah's team score, sophomore
Megan Spehar and freshman
Anna Busatto finished in 15
th and 16
th place, respectively. Spehar finished in a time of 24:21.4, while Busatto recorded a time of 24:22.7. Placing 18
th was sophomore
Caitlin Faust, who finished with a time of 24:35.1.
"In a team meet, holding out some kids we knew we might not win the meet, but we certainly feel good about our runners. Our girls really built together as a team in the different format. It was out of the ordinary but really gave them a chance to focus on competing and beating the girls they were lined up against," Kepler explained.
The Utes are back in action heading to the Notre Dame Invitational next Friday, Sept. 23 in South Bend, Ind.
"Notre Dame will be the first big meet of the year. It is a chance to pick up some at large points as I believe there will be 14 of top-43 ranked teams in the country. It will be a great meet, a really fast race, and flat course," Kepler stated.