Upcoming Event: Cross Country versus Big 12 Championships on October 31, 2025 at TBD
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Cross Country
vs Big 12 Championships
The University of Utah Athletics
Saturday, November 23
Terra Haute, Ind.
9:15 AM
University of Utah
vs
NCAA Championships
No. 14 Cross Country Returns to NCAA Cross Country Championships
11/20/2019 1:56 PM | Cross Country
The third time in five years the Utes have made an appearance at the NCAA Championship meet.
No. 14 Cross Country Returns to NCAA Cross Country Championships
Date: Saturday, November 23, 2019
Location: LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course | Terre Haute, Ind.
Host: Indiana State University
Time: 9:15 a.m. (MT)
Utah Media Guide: 2019 Cross Country Media Guide (PDF)
Cross Country Statistics: 2019 Season Statistics (PDF)
Starting Line
After securing a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Mountain Region Championship on Friday, the No. 14 Utah cross country team will make its third appearance in five years to compete at the 2019 NCAA Cross Country Championships this Saturday, Nov. 23. Featuring a women's 6k and men's 10k race, the meet is slated to begin at 9:15 a.m. (MT) with the women's 6k, following with the men's 10k at 10:15 a.m. (MT). The meet will take place at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind., with live coverage of the race available on FloTrack.org.
A total of 31 teams were selected to participate in the women's championship race with the top-two teams from each of the nine regions automatically qualifying. Adding to the 18 teams, 13 additional squads were selected at-large to compete given their body of work.
Utah Runners
Poppy Tank
Bella Williams
Cara Woolnough
Sarah Feeny
Emma Christensen
Trina Moreno
Ellie Lundgreen
In the Rankings
After seven weeks of cross country action, the Utah cross country team will enter the NCAA Championships ranked 14th in the nation after placing fifth at the NCAA Mountain Region Championship. In the field of 31, the Mountain region will send six squads to compete at the NCAA championships tied with the Great Lakes region. The highly competitive Mountain Region contains six close-knit teams, including Utah, that rank in the top-20 of the nation in No. 3 BYU, No. 7 New Mexico, No. 10 Colorado, No. 12 Air Force and No. 20 Northern Arizona.
Fresh Legs
Entering the final meet of the season, Utah will enter the same lineup they ran at the Mountain Regional but will substitute Christensen in for Dale. Seeing action in her fifth meet of the season, Christensen earned a new 6K PR competing at the Pac-12 Championships in early November.
After finishing inside the top-25 at the Mountain Regional, Tank, Feeny and Williams earned all-region honors and will compete in their fifth meet of the season. Woolnough will also be running in her fifth meet with Moreno running in her sixth race while Lundgreen continues her freshman campaign gaining more championship experience and compete in her seventh race of the season.
Previous Championship Finishes
2015* - 26th
2016 - 20th
* - First appearance in program history
Last Time Out
The Utes hosted the 2019 NCAA Mountain Region Championships where they earned a fifth-place finish against some of the toughest teams in the nation. Led by Tank and Feeny, Utah finished their five scoring runners 12-13-17-30-44 to total 116 points and beat out No. 16 Northern Arizona.
Third-ranked BYU captured the region championship scoring 70 points while No. 10 New Mexico had the top-two finishing runners to secure second with 83 points. No. 15 Air Force earned third with 107 points and No. 8 Colorado just topped the Utes by three points for fourth-place.
Tank clocked a time of 20:19.4 to finish 12th with Feeny crossing the finish line right behind her, registering a time of 20:20.2. Four places later, Williams finished for the Utes in 20:27.1 while Woolnough and Moreno rounded things out for Utah's scoring runners — capturing 30th and 44th-place, respectively. Running in her first regional meet, Lundgreen (21:33.5) finished in 61st with Dale (22:26.1) completing the runners for Utah in 98th.
In the Classroom
The Utah cross country program strives for excellence in both athletics and academics and continues to get it done in the classroom. In the fall of 2018, the cross country team was one of seven teams at Utah that finished with cumulative GPA above a 3.5.
Last season, the Utes had nine student-athletes named to the Pac-12 All-Academic team with four of them being named to the first and second team and five being honorable mentions. Sophomore Cara Woolnough earned first-team honors while senior Anna Busatto and juniors Astrid Lindgren and Natalie Platil were tabbed second-team members. Aubrey Argyle, Emma Christensen, Sarah Feeny, Sarah Newton and former Ute Sadie Wassum were named honorable mention.
This marked the second Pac-12 All-Academic honor Feeny has received (2015) and the first time Woolnough, Busatto, Lindgren, Platil, Argyle, Christensen and Newton were awarded cross country all-academic honors in their careers.
Fans can follow the Utah cross country program on Twitter (@Utah_trackfield), Facebook (UtahTrackXC) and on Instagram (@UtahTrackXC).
Players Mentioned
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