Upcoming Event: Cross Country versus Nuttycombe Invitational on October 17, 2025 at 9:30 AM
9:30 AM
Cross Country
vs Nuttycombe Invitational
Saturday, September 3
Logan, Utah
All Day
University of Utah
at
Utah State Open
Utah Cross Country Opens 2016 Season at Utah State Open
8/30/2016 3:38 PM | Cross Country
The Utes are coming off their first ever appearance at the NCAA Championships as a team.
SALT LAKE CITY- The Utah cross country team opens the 2016 campaign at the Utah State Open. The race will take place Saturday, Sept. 3, in Logan, Utah. Action is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. MST at the Innovation Campus.
"It's great to be back. We have had a terrific preseason, great first week of class and school, practice and the whole bit so just really excited. We have got a team coming off our first ever appearance at the NCAA Championships in history so we are excited to try and repeat on that," head coach Kyle Kepler said.
"This coming weekend will be our opening meet of the year up in Logan at the Utah State Open. They are also the host of the region meet this year so it is important for us to get up there and at least get on that course," Kepler explained. "It is a great first meet. In the past there has been two or three teams, but I would expect there might be a few more teams just because it is the only home meet they have so there might be some teams coming out to get a look at the region course."
The Utah cross country team is coming off one of its best seasons in its history, making an appearance at the NCAA Championship as a team for the first time at the Division I level and finishing 26th overall. Although five of the seven runners who competed at NCAA's have either graduated, will redshirt this year or are serving an LDS mission, Utah holds the same expectations and goals as in the previous season and will be looking for other runners to step up and get back to the Championships.
"We know we have a different group, but we feel like our returners are that much more hungry after achieving the success they did a year ago. That experience combined with a great summer of training will provide them with the confidence they need to continue to improve," Kepler explained. "We also feel we have a great group of recruits who will add to our depth and be able to contribute from day one.
Last season's top runner Hannah McInturff returns to the team after a breakout year, earning all-region honors. McInturff placed in the top ten in all but one race during her 2015 campaign including finishing fourth at NCAA Mountain Region Championships and placing 10th at the Pac-12 Championships for second-team All-Pac-12 honors.
"I think Hannah has matured as a runner and a person which will help her build on the success of a year ago. I think the success she had last year was so new to her that she didn't always trust that it was going to continue," Kepler said. "This year I think she trusts her training more as well as how she feels on a given day which allows her to push more on the days she feels good and back off a bit on the days she doesn't without allowing that to affect her confidence. That's a big sign of individual growth in any athlete as they move to higher levels."
Besides McInturff, Jessica Sams and Shaylen Crook also raced at the NCAA championships. Sams will redshirt this upcoming season leaving McInturff and Crook to bring the experience to the team this season. Crook placed 63rd at regionals last year and 51st at the Pac-12 Championships.
"I think we have a great core of returners who can step up. Giselle Slotboom, Kate Stringfellow, Dana Snell, and Becky Sarmiento have probably shown the most promise of that group so far, but we have a few others who may work their way into that conversation as well," Kepler commented on the returning group. "Then we have some very talented newcomers who I think could be in that mix as well. Grayson Murphy, Amanda Gehrich, Anna Busatto, Nicole Griffiths, and Poppy Tank have all had a great camp and could push for those spots as well."
Redshirt senior Stringfellow finished 27th at the NCAA Pre-National meet last year and ranks in the top 10 all-time in track at Utah in the 5,000. Slotboom, also a redshirt senior, has competed sparingly over the past two seasons, but finished 55th at the Notre Dame Invitational last year. Sarmiento, a junior, placed 11th at the NCAA pre-nationals and placed 73rd at the Pac-12 championships and holds the school record in the 3,000 steeplechase, while senior Snell captured 64th at the Pac-12 Championships and had a 28th-place finish at NCAA Pre-Nationals.
Other runners returning include juniors Sadie Wassum and Dakota Grossman as well as sophomores Hannah Allred, Caitlin Faust, Claire Macmillan and Megan Spehar, who will be looking to gain on their experience as freshman to contribute in their second seasons.
The 2016 incoming class holds a lot of potential and talent that Utah is looking to for its future success. The Utes add seven freshmen - Gehrich, Busatto, Griffiths, Tank, Emma Christensen, Ashley Licata, Jade Mulvey and Trina Moreno - and Grayson Murphy, a transfer from Santa Clara.
At Santa Clara, Murphy finished 15th at the 2015 West Coast Conference Cross Country Championships and competed in the NCAA West region Championships finishing in 64th place.
Gehrich was the 2015 Orange County Register cross country athlete of the year and finished third in the state of California as a senior. Busatto, a native of Italy, was a member of the Italian Junior National Cross Country team for the U20 European Championships. Griffiths, from Oregon, finished in the top 10 in the state three years running with a best finish of third in 2014. Tank, from England, finished 21st at the 2016 ECCA English National Championships.
Christensen finished fifth at the 2015 Minnesota State Cross Country Championships after winning both section and conference titles. Licata's best California state cross country finish was 11th in 2014 and she won the South Coast League title in 2015. Moreno finished eighth at the Iowa state championships as a junior in high school. Mulvey, who joined Utah's track team in the spring, was a three-time runner at the Utah State Cross Country Championships.
"We are very happy thus far with the addition of our seven freshmen and one transfer. We believe they trained hard over summer and they all bring great attitudes with them. They want to contribute and they want to be great teammates," Kepler stated.
The Utes open their season at the Utah State Open on Saturday, Sept. 3, and will travel to meets at Montana State, Nevada, Notre Dame and Wisconsin before the Pac-12 Championships, which take place on Oct. 28 in Tucson, Ariz., followed by the NCAA Regional Championships in Logan, Utah, on Nov. 11.
"It's great to be back. We have had a terrific preseason, great first week of class and school, practice and the whole bit so just really excited. We have got a team coming off our first ever appearance at the NCAA Championships in history so we are excited to try and repeat on that," head coach Kyle Kepler said.
"This coming weekend will be our opening meet of the year up in Logan at the Utah State Open. They are also the host of the region meet this year so it is important for us to get up there and at least get on that course," Kepler explained. "It is a great first meet. In the past there has been two or three teams, but I would expect there might be a few more teams just because it is the only home meet they have so there might be some teams coming out to get a look at the region course."
The Utah cross country team is coming off one of its best seasons in its history, making an appearance at the NCAA Championship as a team for the first time at the Division I level and finishing 26th overall. Although five of the seven runners who competed at NCAA's have either graduated, will redshirt this year or are serving an LDS mission, Utah holds the same expectations and goals as in the previous season and will be looking for other runners to step up and get back to the Championships.
"We know we have a different group, but we feel like our returners are that much more hungry after achieving the success they did a year ago. That experience combined with a great summer of training will provide them with the confidence they need to continue to improve," Kepler explained. "We also feel we have a great group of recruits who will add to our depth and be able to contribute from day one.
Last season's top runner Hannah McInturff returns to the team after a breakout year, earning all-region honors. McInturff placed in the top ten in all but one race during her 2015 campaign including finishing fourth at NCAA Mountain Region Championships and placing 10th at the Pac-12 Championships for second-team All-Pac-12 honors.
"I think Hannah has matured as a runner and a person which will help her build on the success of a year ago. I think the success she had last year was so new to her that she didn't always trust that it was going to continue," Kepler said. "This year I think she trusts her training more as well as how she feels on a given day which allows her to push more on the days she feels good and back off a bit on the days she doesn't without allowing that to affect her confidence. That's a big sign of individual growth in any athlete as they move to higher levels."
Besides McInturff, Jessica Sams and Shaylen Crook also raced at the NCAA championships. Sams will redshirt this upcoming season leaving McInturff and Crook to bring the experience to the team this season. Crook placed 63rd at regionals last year and 51st at the Pac-12 Championships.
"I think we have a great core of returners who can step up. Giselle Slotboom, Kate Stringfellow, Dana Snell, and Becky Sarmiento have probably shown the most promise of that group so far, but we have a few others who may work their way into that conversation as well," Kepler commented on the returning group. "Then we have some very talented newcomers who I think could be in that mix as well. Grayson Murphy, Amanda Gehrich, Anna Busatto, Nicole Griffiths, and Poppy Tank have all had a great camp and could push for those spots as well."
Redshirt senior Stringfellow finished 27th at the NCAA Pre-National meet last year and ranks in the top 10 all-time in track at Utah in the 5,000. Slotboom, also a redshirt senior, has competed sparingly over the past two seasons, but finished 55th at the Notre Dame Invitational last year. Sarmiento, a junior, placed 11th at the NCAA pre-nationals and placed 73rd at the Pac-12 championships and holds the school record in the 3,000 steeplechase, while senior Snell captured 64th at the Pac-12 Championships and had a 28th-place finish at NCAA Pre-Nationals.
Other runners returning include juniors Sadie Wassum and Dakota Grossman as well as sophomores Hannah Allred, Caitlin Faust, Claire Macmillan and Megan Spehar, who will be looking to gain on their experience as freshman to contribute in their second seasons.
The 2016 incoming class holds a lot of potential and talent that Utah is looking to for its future success. The Utes add seven freshmen - Gehrich, Busatto, Griffiths, Tank, Emma Christensen, Ashley Licata, Jade Mulvey and Trina Moreno - and Grayson Murphy, a transfer from Santa Clara.
At Santa Clara, Murphy finished 15th at the 2015 West Coast Conference Cross Country Championships and competed in the NCAA West region Championships finishing in 64th place.
Gehrich was the 2015 Orange County Register cross country athlete of the year and finished third in the state of California as a senior. Busatto, a native of Italy, was a member of the Italian Junior National Cross Country team for the U20 European Championships. Griffiths, from Oregon, finished in the top 10 in the state three years running with a best finish of third in 2014. Tank, from England, finished 21st at the 2016 ECCA English National Championships.
Christensen finished fifth at the 2015 Minnesota State Cross Country Championships after winning both section and conference titles. Licata's best California state cross country finish was 11th in 2014 and she won the South Coast League title in 2015. Moreno finished eighth at the Iowa state championships as a junior in high school. Mulvey, who joined Utah's track team in the spring, was a three-time runner at the Utah State Cross Country Championships.
"We are very happy thus far with the addition of our seven freshmen and one transfer. We believe they trained hard over summer and they all bring great attitudes with them. They want to contribute and they want to be great teammates," Kepler stated.
The Utes open their season at the Utah State Open on Saturday, Sept. 3, and will travel to meets at Montana State, Nevada, Notre Dame and Wisconsin before the Pac-12 Championships, which take place on Oct. 28 in Tucson, Ariz., followed by the NCAA Regional Championships in Logan, Utah, on Nov. 11.
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