Completed Event: Cross Country versus NCAA Championships on November 22, 2025 , , 17th / 32
Final Score
Cross Country
17th / 32
vs NCAA Championships
The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Cross Country Gears Up For Regionals
11/11/2008 12:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 11, 2008
SALT LAKE CITY - The University of Utah women's cross country team will travel to Fort Collins, Colo. to compete in the NCAA Mountain Region Championships on Saturday. The race will be held at Collindale Golf Course and is scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. MST. The race will feature top programs, including Texas Tech, current Mountain West Conference Champions New Mexico and current WAC Champions Utah State.
The Utes are currently ranked fifth in the Mountain Region by the U.S. Track & Field ands Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). This tied the school record for the highest regional ranking. Utah cross country earned their regional placement after a stand-out performance at the MWC Championships on Nov. 1 in San Diego, Calif. The team pulled together to come in third as a team, which is the highest they've been ranked since 2004 when the Utes placed fourth in the league.
Utes Last in Action
The women's cross country team was last seen at the MWC Championships. Alyssa Abbott, a junior, finished first for the team for the second race in a row. Abbott earned fourth-place overall in the race out of 74 runners. This placement earned Abbott first team all-conference honors.
Coming in second for Utah was senior Chelsea DiGrazia. The Ute ran with a strong pace of 5:55 to finish the 6K in 22:01. DiGrazia placed 13th overall in the contest to be named second team all-conference. Senior Janett Ern ran another solid race on Saturday, finishing third for Utah and 18th overall in the championship race. Ern finished in 22:22 with a six minute pace.
Lauren Endersen, a senior, finished close behind earning 20th-place overall. Endersen improved her finish time from the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet (22:37) to 22:27 in the league meet. Finishing out the top-five finishes for Utah was senior Kellie Anderson. The Ute set a new personal best for herself after finishing in 22:33 and placing 22nd overall.
The Utes tallied 1:51:00 and 77 points to place third in the league. New Mexico placed first with 31 points and BYU came in second with 33 points.
2007 Mountain Region Recap
The regional championship was held in Ogden, Utah, where the Utes placed 11th overall out of 17 teams with 269 points. Abbott paced the Utes with a 21:41.3 finish to earn 24th-place overall. Endersen and Anderson also finished in the top-50 for Utah. Endersen crossed the line 47th overall with a finish time of 22:20.7 and had Anderson right on her heels with a 49th-place finish and a time of 22:26.7.
Rounding out the top-five finishes last year were DiGrazia and Lauren Lewis. DiGrazia finished 55th overall with a time of 22:34.2. Lewis completed the course in 23:34.9 to earn 94th-place in the race. Utah's spread between scoring runners was 1:53.6. Alexis Davis took 101st in clocking the course in 23:49.3 Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego led all runners with a time of 19:29.4. 2007 Mountain West Conference rival Colorado State won the team title with 75 points. Northern Arizona (81 points), Brigham Young (90), Colorado (105) and Texas Tech (113) round out the top-five team finishes.
Coach Kep's Thoughts
"We want to use the momentum of our performance at the conference meet and try to finish on as high of a note as we can for one of the best seasons in Utah women's cross country history. This group is extremely focused and understands that it will take their best race of the year to finish where we want to finish. We are proud of our number five regional ranking, but know that we have to prove it at this race by trying to beat some outstanding teams with great traditions," said head coach Kyle Kepler. "We have at least two individuals with a chance to qualify for the NCAA championships as individuals, but that too will require their best races of the season. Ultimately, we have to do what we've done all year--focus on ourselves and compete for every place."
The challenge of finishing in the top five may be slightly more difficult than it will already be, as our top runner, Alyssa Abbott, is struggling with an IT band issue. This can be a very painful overuse injury and it affects every runner a little bit differently. Our medical staff has been great and Alyssa is as tough as any runner that I've ever coached. If there is anyway she can run, she will. It is an injury that is not career threatening because the pain becomes intolerable before any serious damage can be done to the band. If she can't compete then a couple of our younger runners will be ready to step up."
Projected Runners
Alyssa Abbott, Chelsea DiGrazia, Lauren Endersen, Janett Ern, Kellie Anderson, (Sam) Samantha Gaffney, and Carly Selleck.
Players Mentioned
Distance/CC
/ Cross Country
Distance/CC
/ Cross Country
Distance/CC
/ Cross Country
Distance/CC
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