Utah Cross Country Opens 2019 Season at UVU Invite

Saturday, August 31

Orem, Utah

All Day

University of Utah

Utah Valley Invitational

Utah Cross Country Opens 2019 Season at UVU Invite

8/29/2019 2:49 PM | Cross Country

Meet Info & Results UVU Invite Course Map 2019

The Utes prepped and ready for first meet of the season.

SALT LAKE CITY - With the calendar turning to August and classes beginning to start, the Utah cross country team is ready to get the 2019 campaign underway and build off of the solid season they had a year ago. Ending the 2018 season in disappointing fashion, the Utes will look to their experienced runners and upperclassman to lead them back to posting high finishes at the Pac-12 Championships and NCAA Mountain Regionals.

"I can't believe it's already here but school has started, we are off and rolling and we've been practicing for a couple weeks getting ready for our first meet this weekend at the UVU invitational in Orem. It's our first time there and we're excited to run at a different place in a different setting with a good young group of kids. We are going to run all of our freshmen along with some of our emerging kids as well and give them some opportunities to get their season going and see where they are at coming off summer training," head coach Kyle Kepler said.

Starting the season ranked #22 in the country and fourth in the Mountain Region, according to the latest rankings released by the USTFCCCA (U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association), the Utes will have a tough road ahead of them as their region consists of five nationally ranked teams including #1 Colorado, #2 New Mexico, #6 BYU and #29 Air Force.

"I'm really excited about this bunch, we come into the season ranked #22 in the country by USTFCCCA and I think some of that is based off of what we did in the spring and certainly the reputation that our program has earned over the last few years and we're really excited to start the season that way," Kepler said.

Many familiar faces will be returning for the Utes including five of who competed at the NCAA Regional last year. Overall the Utes welcome back a total of 21 runners including senior standout Sarah Feeny and will bring aboard five freshmen to the program. Last season, Feeny competed in her first cross country meet since returning from a two year LDS mission and looked as if she hadn't missed a beat. Taking first at the Sagebrush Invite to start the year, Feeny continued her success throughout the season competing in five meets and solidifying herself as the top runner for the Utes. Feeny went on to capture a 25th place finish at the NCAA Mountain Regionals and earned all-region honors.

Another runner looking to get back into the groove is redshirt junior Poppy Tank. Being such an integral part of the Utah cross country team, especially in 2016 and 2017 where she helped propel the 2016 team to the NCAA Championships and earned all-region honors both years, Tank used the 2018 season as a redshirt season but is back and ready to return to her championship form.

More of the returning runners that competed in at least four events last season and will be crucial to the team's success this season include senior Sarah Newton, junior Natalie Platil and sophomore's Scarlet Dale, Kennedy Powell, Sophie Ryan and Cara Woolnough. All, except Platil, were apart of the Utes squad that competed at the Battle of Beantown last season in Boston where as a team finished in third place beating out four nationally ranked teams ultimately sending the Utes into the national rankings for the first time that season.

"We think we have a pretty darn good group of returners headlined by Sarah Feeny and Poppy Tank but right behind them junior Bella Williams, sophomore Cara Woolnough and sophomore Scarlet Dale," Kepler explained. "After that I think we have some pretty good depth this year you know I've mentioned Sarah Newton, our 800-meter middle distance star on the track, who had a great spring and set a lifetime best and third best time in school history so we'll be relying on her to stretch herself out a bit in her second year of cross country."

Coach Kepler and his staff are excited to bring aboard five newcomers to the team, with all of them coming in as true freshmen from high school. The list includes Karli Branch, Grace Burnett, Ellie Lundgreen, Kaitlyn Mercer and Abby Rasmussen.

Mercer, being the only freshman from out of state, attended Grandview High School in Aurora, Colo., and in 2017 was the Centennial League cross country champion, placed fourth in the 5A Region 2 Championships and then record a top-10 finish at the 5A state championships. The four other freshmen are all from the state of Utah while two of them come in with high school state championships under their belts. Branch, who attended Corner Canyon High School, won the 2017 5A state cross country championship and in 2018 was the Utah Cross Country Region 7 champion. Lundgreen is another freshman that comes in with a high school state championship that she won in 2018 while she was attending Davis High School.

"We have a great freshman class, four of the five right here from the state of Utah, 6A state champion Elli Lundgreen from Davis High who is a perennial power here in the state. Then we have Grace Burnett, the state runner-up in cross country in 5A, Karli Branch who was a state champion in 2017 and fourth-place finisher as a senior. We just have a multitude of ways to go but it's going to be a great competition for those spots and that's what you want but i really feel good about the cohesiveness and collectiveness that this team has started out with and I feel really good about where they are at," Kepler explained.

To start of the 2019 season, Utah will compete just down the road at the Utah Valley Invitational (Aug. 31st) and a week later will travel to Twin Falls, Idaho, to compete at the College of Southern Idaho Invite (Sept. 6th). Unlike other years, the Utes will then take a one month break from competition to rest and train for the latter half of the season that will start off with one of the two biggest meets the Utes will compete in this season, the Joe Piane Invitational hosted by Notre Dame University (Oct. 4th). Utah will then wrap up the regular season with meets at the Color Country Invitational (Oct. 12th), the Nuttycombe Invitational and at home hosting the Utah Open on Oct. 25th.

"We'll take almost a month break from racing, have some training sessions and then we will really get it rolling in October as we have meets every weekend. We'll go to Notre Dame, which is maybe going to be the best Notre Dame Invitational ever in terms of the quality of competition and the teams that are lining up for that meet. A week later we'll go to southern Utah with a handful of kids that we feel like are competing well but need some more opportunities and then we go off to the Nuttycombe Invitational at the University of Wisconsin, one of the best meets in the country year in and year out, again looking to improve our stock and potentially pick up some at large points for NCAA qualifying purposes later in the year," Kepler explained.

The Utes will then travel west to compete at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships on Nov. 1st in Monmouth, Ore., at the Ask Creek Preserve course. The NCAA Mountain Regional Championships will be hosted by Utah on Nov. 15th and will take place at the Rose Park Golf Course. The NCAA Championships will be held on Nov. 23rd in Terre Haute, Ind., at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.

Meet 1 Utah Valley Invitational:

Race day: Saturday, Aug. 31st.

Race time: Women (5k) 10:00 a.m. (MT).

Location: Palisade Park (formerly Cascade Golf Course) 1110 N 1280 E Orem, UT 84058

Teams Participating:

Utah Valley

Southern Utah

Idaho State

Georgia State

Westminster

Utah Runners:

Karli Branch
Grace Burnett
Anna Busatto
Ashley Licata
Astrid Lindgren
Ellie Lundgreen
Brooke Manson
Kaitlyn Mercer
Jade Mulvey
Kennedy Powell
Abby Rasmussen