Upcoming Event: Cross Country versus Nuttycombe Invitational on October 17, 2025 at 9:30 AM
9:30 AM
Cross Country
vs Nuttycombe Invitational
Saturday, October 18
Terre Haute, Ind.
All Day
University of Utah
vs
NCAA Pre Nationals
Cross Country Has Good Showing at NCAA Pre-Nationals Meet
10/18/2008 12:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 18, 2008
TERRE HAUTE, IND. - The University of Utah women's cross country team had a spectacular showing at the annual NCAA Pre-Nationals Meet hosted by Indiana State at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course on Saturday. Racing against the best collegiate teams in the nation, the Utes placed 26th out of 39 teams in the Women's 6K White Team Race, only 20 points off of making it into the top 20 finishing teams. It was a close competition, one which two Utes found themselves in the top 75 out of 287 competitors. Five runners set new personal bests.
Crossing the line first for Utah was junior Alyssa Abbott. The Ute set a new personal best for a 6K race on Saturday. Abbott finished in 21:14 to place 41st overall in the White Team Race. Just 17 seconds later, senior Chelsea DiGrazia crossed the finish line. DiGrazia earned 60th-place in the competition with a finish time of 21:31, also a new personal best for the runner.
Senior Janett Ern came in 144th overall in the meet on Saturday. Ern finished the course in 22:17, setting a new personal best that was previously 22:46, which she set in September at the Stanford Invite this season.
"It was a solid performance on Saturday for our top three," said head coach Kyle Kepler. "Alyssa ran extremely well. She got right after it from the get-go. She got in and challenged the top runners. She knows how to handle these big-time races. Chelsea [DiGrazia] has cut her personal best time for 6K by a combined 60 seconds in the last two races. She continues to run well in big meets. Janett really stepped it up today as well."
Coming in fourth for Utah was senior Lauren Endersen. The Ute came in 174th overall after running the course in 22:37. Finish out the top five finishes for Utah was Kellie Anderson. She finished 192nd overall after running for a 22:50 finish time.
Utah finished with 611 points with an average finish of 22:06 and a top five total of 1:50:29. Colorado State, the 2007 Mountain West Conference Champions, earned 29th-place overall averaging a 22:19 finish.
"We are focusing on our conference meet that is in a couple of weeks now," stated Kepler. "We are going to stay sharp and get sharp in other areas. One thing about Colorado State is they are a very good team, so this may have been an off day for them. They'll be strong and competitive at the Mountain West Conference Championship Meet."
Also running on Saturday were sophomores Samantha Gaffney and Carly Selleck, both of which set personal best times for themselves. Gaffney finished sixth for the Utes and 196th overall with a finish time of 22:54. Rounding out the runners from Utah was Selleck finishing 225th overall. This was Selleck's first 6K race as a Ute Runner, finishing in 23:24.
"They all feel like it is coming and we will just continue to work hard," said Kepler. "We need to stay confident, but our kids in the back need to come through if we're going to overtake some of our opponents in the conference championships."
No. 3 ranked Florida State and No. 5 Princeton battled for the team title throughout the race; both teams finished with a total of 89 points to pace the field.
Florida State's Susan Kuijken set a new course record with a time of 19:48.2 to finish in first place overall. She broke the previous course record by just a tenth of a second, which was set in 2007 by Colorado's Jenny Barringer.
Players Mentioned
Distance/CC
/ Cross Country
Distance/CC
/ Cross Country
Distance/CC
/ Cross CountryCoach 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