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Cross Country
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Friday, November 15
Salt Lake City, Utah
11 AM
University of Utah
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NCAA Mountain Region Championships
Tank Leads No. 9 Cross Country to Fifth-Place Finish at NCAA Mountain Region Championship
11/15/2019 3:06 PM | Cross Country
Three Utes place inside the Top-25 to earn all-region honors.
SALT LAKE CITY- The No. 9 Utah cross country team hosted the 2019 NCAA Mountain Region Championships on Friday in what turned out to be a beautiful day for racing. The Utes battled hard against some of the best teams in the nation to capture a fifth-place finish with junior Poppy Tank pacing Utah across the finish line.
"It was really an outstanding day and our team ran well. We maybe didn't have as quite as good a meet as we had at the Pac-12 Championships...but we got the job done," head coach Kyle Kepler said. "We were fifth today but we were only nine points out of third and I feel like maybe we even didn't run our best and still we were that close to finishing third in the deepest region in the country."
Third-ranked BYU took home the region championship placing their runners 3-4-7-22-34 totaling 70 points while No. 10 New Mexico had the top-two finishing runners to help them secure second-place with 83 points. No. 15 Air Force earned third with 107 points and No. 8 Colorado (113) nudged out Utah (116) by three points for fourth-place.
Individually, Tank finished the 6k course in 20:19.4 to earn 12th with Sarah Feeny right on her heels finishing in 13th with a time of 20:20.2. Four places later, Bella Williams crossed for the Utes finishing in 17th in 20:27.1. Tank, Feeny and Williams earned all-region honors after finishing inside the top-25. This marks the third all-region honor for Tank, second-for Feeny and first for Williams.
"Poppy came up big again for us finishing 12th and right behind her was Sarah in 13th and Bella in 17th. That was the big three up front getting the job done and I think on another day they can run even better," Kepler explained. "The race got out super fast and then it finally backed off and I think we were probably had a little too much energy, had a little too much excitement getting out the gate and before they finally backed off and kind of got into the race, which allowed us to make it happen."
Rounding out the scoring runners for the Utes were Cara Woolnough and Trina Moreno. Woolnough finished with a mark of 20:55.1 for 30th whileMoreno finished in 44th with a time of 21:10.3. Running in her first regional meet, Ellie Lundgreen (21:33.5) captured 61st with Scarlet Dale (22:26.1) completing the runners for Utah placing 98th.
It's a waiting game now for the Utes as the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross-Country Committee announce the at large teams and individual men and women qualifiers to the 2019 Division I cross country championships on Saturday, Nov. 16. The selection show can be seen on NCAA.com and will begin at 3 p.m. (MT).
The 2019 NCAA Cross Country Championships will take place in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday, Nov. 23, at Indiana State's LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
Top 10 Teams
#3 BYU - 70
#10 New Mexico - 83
#15 Air Force - 107
#8 Colorado - 113
#9 Utah - 116
#16 Northern Arizona - 146
Weber State - 244
Southern Utah - 267
Utah State - 269
Colorado State - 281
Fans can follow the Utah cross country program on Twitter (@Utah_trackfield), Facebook (UtahTrackXC) and on Instagram (@UtahTrackXC).
Players Mentioned
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