2019 Cross Country Season in Review

12/2/2019 4:52 PM | Cross Country

The Utes wrap up a historic cross country season.

SALT LAKE CITY - Returning 21 runners including five of whom competed at the 2018 NCAA Mountain Regional for Utah, the Utes welcomed five newcomers to a roster full of veterans and completed what was arguably the best season in the history of Utah women's cross country.

Opening the 2019 campaign just down the road in Orem, the No. 22 Utes competed at the UVU Invite where they ran more of their developing runners and saw three true freshmen lead Utah across the finish line in their collegiate debuts. The freshman trio of Grace Burnett, Karli Branch and Ellie Lundgreen paced the women of Utah collecting finishes of seventh, 11th and 12th to secure the third-place finish.

Six days later, Utah traveled to Twin Falls, Idaho, to compete at the College of Southern Idaho Invite (CSI) where junior Trina Moreno finished third overall to lead the women of Utah. Freshman Branch and Lundgreen backed up their performances from their debuts earning new PR's and finished in sixth and seventh-place, respectively. In total, the Utes placed 11 runners in the first 17 and eight in the first 13 spots to capture a second-place finish and be nudged out by nine points to Weber State.

Taking nearly a month off of racing, Utah made their national presence known at the Joe Piane Invite going head-to-head with some of the nation's best teams and came out victorious in a tight race against top-ranked Colorado. The Utes topped Colorado by six points to secure the meet title and was led by junior Bella Williams, who had a historic day herself recording a new 5k PR time of 16:31.69. Utah beat out 11 ranked teams, which included five teams inside the top-10 and placed all five of their scoring runners in the top-40. Senior Poppy Tank was the second Ute to cross the finish line in 16th followed by senior Sarah Feeny (19th) and sophomores Cara Woolnough (27th) and Scarlet Dale (37th).

"It was probably the deepest field ever at the Joe Piane Invitational and certainly the primary goal wasn't to win the meet but to compete well and beat as many teams as we could to try to grab some potential at large points and we just ran an awesome race that day. We were able to beat 10 ranked teams including defending national champion Colorado, so that was a really exciting day for our program," head coach Kyle Kepler said.

Following that inspiring performance, the Utes vaulted up and into the national rankings coming in with their highest ranking in program history at No. 6. Back in action the following week at the Color Country Invite, Utah sent its younger and more developing runners to compete in Cedar City where they brought home a third-place finish.

Entering the back half of the schedule and approaching the postseason, the Utes had one more marquee meet in front of them at the Nuttycombe Invitational to show that they belonged in the top-ranks. In Wisconsin, Utah lined up with 19 nationally ranked teams and were prepared to compete in their first 6k race of the season. Led by Tank, Williams and Feeny, the Utes ran hard capturing 11th-place and beat out 8 ranked squads.

Wrapping up the regular season at home hosting the Utah Open and finishing in third, the top runners for Utah had their eyes set on the Pac-12 Championship that was approaching. Making the trip to Monmouth, Ore., for the conference championship, the women of Utah had a huge day recording their highest finish in program history since joining the Pac-12 in 2011. The third-place finish came courtesy of Tank, Williams and Feeny who all finished in the top-10 and earned All-Pac-12 Honors.

Returning to Salt Lake City to host their first NCAA Mountain Region Championship since the 2010 season, the Utes were sitting in a prime position to receive an at-large bid to move on and compete at the NCAA Cross Country Championships as long as they took care of business at the regional meet. Not an easy task as the highly competitive mountain region contained six close-knit teams that included No. 3 BYU, No. 8 Colorado, No. 10 New Mexico, No. 15 Air Force and No. 16 Northern Arizona. Running on a day that featured spectacular weather, the familiar trio of Tank, Feeny and Williams paced the women of Utah to a fifth-place finish and earned All-Region honors after all three finished inside the top-25.

Taking care of business and earning an at-large bid, the Utah cross country team would make its third appearance in five years at NCAA Cross Country Championships. Taking place at the "Cross Country Capital of The World" in Terre Haute, Ind., Utah prepared to go head-to-head with the nations best in a battle that included 31 teams. Running in brutal weather conditions, the Utes were led yet again by the dynamic trio of Tank, Feeny and Williams who led Utah to their highest-finish ever at the NCAA Championship meet of 16th-place. Tank, Feeny and Williams finished in 74th, 98th and 107th, respectively, to help Utah total 471 points and nudge out No. 13 Boise State by three points. Meet favorite and top-ranked Arkansas took home the hardware with 96 points, beating out No. 3 BYU (102) by six points and No. 2 Stanford (123) by a dominant 27 points. Seventh-ranked New Mexico finished in fourth with 168 points and No. 6 NC State placed fifth totaling 209 points.

Looking back on the season, coach Kepler had this to say about the terrific year...

"What a year. It was a 103 day season and that's the way you like it. That means you are at the NCAA Championships and it was just a thrill the whole season that was full of some amazing accomplishments. We had a ton of gals grow and not just the seven that got to race at the NCAA championships, but all up and down the entire lineup and roster. As far as the season recap goes it's simple, this was the best season in the history of Utah women's cross country. There's no denying that and it was just an awful lot of fun to be apart of."

Fans can follow the Utah cross country program on Twitter (@Utah_trackfield), Facebook (UtahTrackXC) and on Instagram (@UtahTrackXC).

Click below to listen to coach Kepler review the 2019 season on his weekly Utah Cross Country Podcast.