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The University of Utah Athletics
Abbott Finishes in the Top 100 at NCAA Nationals
11/24/2008 12:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 24, 2008
Complete Results in PDF Format 
Terre Haute, Ind. - Alyssa Abbott from the University of Utah women's cross country team competed in the 2008 NCAA Cross Country Championship on Monday for a 76th-place finish out of 255 women. She finished the 6K race in 21:00.5, a 14-second improvement from the pre-national meet there in October where she finished in 21:14.
"This was an amazing race and I couldn't be more proud. Alyssa [Abbott] is without a doubt one of the most elite athletes in the nation," said head coach Kyle Kepler.
Abbott, a junior and native of Reno, Nev., competed in the championship race despite a painful IT band injury. After the first mile of the race, the Ute was pacing herself in the middle of the pack at about 180th-place. She clocked in at 6:49 at the 2K mark. At the 3K mark, Abbott advanced 100 spots as she found her power.
She was in 90th-place after 13 minutes and 52 seconds of competing and only had 2,000 meters to go. In the last 500 meters of the race, the Ute went from 84th in the pack, to a 76th-place finish. The only other Mountain West Conference contender that topped Abbott was Nicky Archer from New Mexico (56th, 20:53.0)
Abbott was the first representative from the Utes since 2004 when Elise Greenwood-Bahr had the honor.
"This is like a bow on top of our season. I'm excited for her (Alyssa). She has a lot of career left here and hopefully get back here again next year," said Kepler. "I also have to give a special thanks to Shayla Houlihan. She gave Alyssa great outlook and kept her calm and just took care of her over the weekend. This is also a tribute to everyone involved in the program. We'll be able to look back and always know this year was special."
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