SALT LAKE CITY– The Utah women's cross country team travels down the road to Provo, Utah to compete at the 2018 NCAA Mountain Regionals. The meet will take place at the East Bay Golf Course on Friday, Nov. 9. Competition is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. with the women's 6K championship race.
"It's our chance to put ourselves into the NCAA championships and we've got a tough road ahead. We know, between Colorado and New Mexico, you are looking at two of the top-four teams in the country and BYU has been outstanding this year who is another top-nine ranked team in the country," Utah head coach
Kyle Kepler said. "It is going to be and take a terrific effort to put ourselves in a spot to take an at large bid."
Utah will face another tough field of competition this Friday with five out of the 15 teams in the region coming in nationally ranked. Notable teams include No. 1 New Mexico, No. 2 Colorado, No. 9 BYU, No. 22 Southern Utah and No. 28 Northern Arizona. Also receiving votes was Air Force (9) and Utah State (7). Colorado looks to defend its title and capture its sixth straight NCAA Mountain Region Championship.
Competing for the Utes will be:
Scarlet Dale,
Sarah Feeny,
Kennedy Powell,
Sophie Ryan,
Sadie Wassum,
Bella Williams, and
Cara Woolnough.
Sarah Newton will travel as an alternate runner for the Utes.
"Our kids have run hard all year and we haven't quite found the consistency that we'd like to have but when you are running four freshmen, a couple sophomores, and a redshirt freshman that's going to happen a little bit," Kepler explained. "These kids have been tough, they've bounced back all year and have had some great practices and some great runs over the course of the last week and a half and I am just excited."
Last time out, six Utes earned new career bests as Utah captured a seventh-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships with a total of 191 team points. No. 2 Oregon finished in first place and knocked off previous champions, No. 4 Colorado, with 32 team points. Colorado earned second with 48 team points. Rounding out the top-five teams is No. 6 Stanford (81 points, 3rd), No. 16 Washington (123 points, 4th), and UCLA (158 points, 5th).
Junior
Sarah Feeny lead the Utes finishing in 21st place overall. Feeny finished the six-kilometer course in a time of 20:31.9.
Fans can follow the Utah cross country program on Twitter (
@Utah_trackfield), Facebook (
UtahTrackXC) and on Instagram (
@UtahTrackXC).
Click below to listen to head coach
Kyle Kepler in his weekly podcast. This week he gives a preview of the 2018 NCAA Mountain Regionals.