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Cross Country
vs NCAA Mountain Regionals
The University of Utah Athletics
Friday, September 11
Salt Lake City, Utah (Murray Park)
3:00 PM
University of Utah
vs
Utah Open
Utah Cross Country Captures First at Utah Open
9/11/2015 12:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 11, 2015
SALT LAKE CITY- Led by the second-place performance of senior Susannah Hurst Spencer, the Utah cross country team continues to impress as they captureed first at the Utah Open at Murray Park on Friday afternoon. The Utes wrapped up their annual home meet with seven runners in the top 20, including four runners in the top 10.
"I am very pleased," Utah head coach Kyle Kepler said. "Obviously, anytime you win you are happy about that. I thought that we ran a really good team race. The plan was to stay together for the first 2-km and run really controlled. I thought that the majority of our kids did that very well. I am just pleased all the way around. We are training really hard right now, so we had some tired kids out there running their guts out. The fact that we only put up 28 points, with a few of our top runners not competing, makes a pretty big statement about of how we have a pretty good chance to be good. We have to continue to work hard and get ready to go to Montana State."
In her last home cross country meet, Hurst Spencer continued to show her veteran leadership with another solid outing. She finished the four-kilometer course in a time of 15:15.4 to claim second overall.
"It is hard to believe that this is the last time that I will be competing locally," Hurst Spencer said. "This beginning part of the season has been tough, but it's nice to finally come back and I feel like I am getting my rhythm back more and more each race."
Crossing the line fourth overall was junior Jessica Sams in a time of 15:22.5. Jocelyn Todd followed closely in her footsteps in fifth, recording a time of 15:28.9.
Rounding out the top runners for Utah was Andrea Chavez and Dana Snell. Chavez finished with a time of 15:45.3 to earn tenth and Snell claimed 12th after posting a time of 15:51.5.
Other noticeable finishes for the Utes include Becky Sarmiento (16th, 16:05.2), Makenzie Clark (19th, 16:23.1) and Kate Stringfellow (21st, 16:25.4).
Winning the race was former Ute Niki Rietz, who competed unattached and recorded a time of 15:09.6.
The Utes captured first overall, followed by Boise State in second and Utah Valley in third.
Utah will return to action on Sept. 19 at the Montana State Invitational in Bozeman, Mont.
Players Mentioned
Distance/CC
/ Cross Country
Distance/CC
/ Cross Country
Distance/CC
/ Cross Country
Distance/CC
/ Cross Country
Distance/CC
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
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