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Utah Cross Country Earns Bid to NCAA Championships
11/12/2016 2:04 PM | Cross Country
SALT LAKE CITY - For the second-straight season, the 20th-ranked Utah cross country team has earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. The championships will be hosted by Indiana State on Nov. 19 at the LaVeron Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Indiana with the women's race beginning at 11 a.m. ET/9:00 a.m. MT.
The Utes are coming off a fourth-place finish at the Mountain Region Championships led by top-20 finishes from Hannah McInturff and Grayson Murphy. In addition to McInturff and Murphy, Poppy Tank (25th) also earned all-region honors.
"We are excited to earn our way back to the NCAA Championships," Utah head coach Kyle Kepler said. "It's exciting for this group. They have worked really hard for it all year and it has been someone different leading us almost every race. That is a lot of fun when you have a team where the parts are interchangeable like that."
The Utes can race seven runners at the NCAA Championships with the top five racers scoring points for the team.
Utah is making its second team appearance in school history, coming off a 26th-place finish last year. Previously, the Utes have had nine racers appear at the meet as individual qualifiers. Utah has three NCAA All-Americans in its history: Amanda Mergaert (2012), Cesla Boman (1987) and Jill Molen (1982).
The Utes won the 1981 AIAW Division II national championship before moving to NCAA Division I in 1982.
The Utes are coming off a fourth-place finish at the Mountain Region Championships led by top-20 finishes from Hannah McInturff and Grayson Murphy. In addition to McInturff and Murphy, Poppy Tank (25th) also earned all-region honors.
"We are excited to earn our way back to the NCAA Championships," Utah head coach Kyle Kepler said. "It's exciting for this group. They have worked really hard for it all year and it has been someone different leading us almost every race. That is a lot of fun when you have a team where the parts are interchangeable like that."
The Utes can race seven runners at the NCAA Championships with the top five racers scoring points for the team.
Utah is making its second team appearance in school history, coming off a 26th-place finish last year. Previously, the Utes have had nine racers appear at the meet as individual qualifiers. Utah has three NCAA All-Americans in its history: Amanda Mergaert (2012), Cesla Boman (1987) and Jill Molen (1982).
The Utes won the 1981 AIAW Division II national championship before moving to NCAA Division I in 1982.
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