Friday, September 30
South Bend, Ind.
All Day
University of Utah
at
Notre Dame Invitational
#28 Utah Cross Country Places Sixth at Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational
9/30/2016 2:46 PM | Cross Country
Open Race Results Joe Piane ND InvitationalJoe Piane Notre Dame Invititational ResultsJoe Piane Notre Dame Invitational Results
Utah gives a strong showing at first big meet of the season.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 28 Utah women's cross country team competed in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitiational Friday afternoon in their first big meet of the year, competing against three of the top-five nationally ranked teams. Utah captured a sixth place finish with 171 points. Junior Grayson Murphy and senior Giselle Slotboom led the Utes, recording top-25 performances.
"Overall, very pleased to finish sixth in that field. We beat some teams ranked ahead of us and a couple teams who were receiving votes jumped up and got us but we were only five points behind the defending national champions New Mexico," head coach Kyle Kepler said. "We were very close and our race wasn't perfect by all means."
Murphy finished in 19th place for the Utes, running the 5K course in a time of 16.46.4. Placing 21st for Utah, Slotboom came in with a time of 16:47.1.
Freshman Amanda Gehrich finished the race in a time of 16:58.7 to earn 34th place overall. Finishing together were freshman Poppy Tank and junior Hannah McInturff, placing 48th and 49th, respectively. Tank recorded a time of 17:07.2 and McInturff finished with a time of 17:08.7.
"Our top runners had a spread of 22 seconds and that spread is huge because we know Hannah and Poppy can run up with the top three and really close down that gap which will make a huge difference for us," Kepler explained. "It is early in the year, we had a very good day but I think we can be better. That is the most exciting part is that we know we can be even better."
Rounding out the Utah runners who competed in the "blue" race, senior Kate Stringfellow placed 87th with a time of 17:36.2, junior Becky Sarmiento ran a time of 17:45.4 to earn 103rd place, freshman Ashley Licata finished in 112th place in a time of 17:51.6, and junior Sadie Wassum placed 146th with a time of 18:13.3.
The No. 1 overall ranked women's cross country team in the nation, Providence, took home the team title with 117 team points. No. 5 NC State finished in second place with 149 points, Eastern Michigan notched third place with 159 points, No. 2 New Mexico came in fourth place with 166 points, while Baylor finished just ahead of Utah with 169 team points to round out the top-five teams.
Utah also had six runners compete in the open race later Friday afternoon. Junior Shaylen Crook earned a seventh place finish, running the 5K in a time of 17:42.7. Junior Dakota Grossman finished in 16th place with a time of 18:09.7, while freshman Nicole Griffiths ran a time of 18:17.9 to record an 18th place finish.
Freshman Anna Busatto placed 22nd (18:26.7), senior Dana Snell finished in 27th place (18:30.4), and freshman Jade Mulvey placed 35th (18:40.1) to round out Utah runners.
"All of our kids ran terrific and all of their times were very good. Lots of progress and improvement across the board, but again not perfect and we can still get better. We are going to have to get better if we want to reach our goals and maximize this year's group," Kepler explained.
The Utes will return to action in two weeks at the Wisconsin Invitational. The race in Madison, Wis., will be on Friday, Oct. 14.
"Overall, very pleased to finish sixth in that field. We beat some teams ranked ahead of us and a couple teams who were receiving votes jumped up and got us but we were only five points behind the defending national champions New Mexico," head coach Kyle Kepler said. "We were very close and our race wasn't perfect by all means."
Murphy finished in 19th place for the Utes, running the 5K course in a time of 16.46.4. Placing 21st for Utah, Slotboom came in with a time of 16:47.1.
Freshman Amanda Gehrich finished the race in a time of 16:58.7 to earn 34th place overall. Finishing together were freshman Poppy Tank and junior Hannah McInturff, placing 48th and 49th, respectively. Tank recorded a time of 17:07.2 and McInturff finished with a time of 17:08.7.
"Our top runners had a spread of 22 seconds and that spread is huge because we know Hannah and Poppy can run up with the top three and really close down that gap which will make a huge difference for us," Kepler explained. "It is early in the year, we had a very good day but I think we can be better. That is the most exciting part is that we know we can be even better."
Rounding out the Utah runners who competed in the "blue" race, senior Kate Stringfellow placed 87th with a time of 17:36.2, junior Becky Sarmiento ran a time of 17:45.4 to earn 103rd place, freshman Ashley Licata finished in 112th place in a time of 17:51.6, and junior Sadie Wassum placed 146th with a time of 18:13.3.
The No. 1 overall ranked women's cross country team in the nation, Providence, took home the team title with 117 team points. No. 5 NC State finished in second place with 149 points, Eastern Michigan notched third place with 159 points, No. 2 New Mexico came in fourth place with 166 points, while Baylor finished just ahead of Utah with 169 team points to round out the top-five teams.
Utah also had six runners compete in the open race later Friday afternoon. Junior Shaylen Crook earned a seventh place finish, running the 5K in a time of 17:42.7. Junior Dakota Grossman finished in 16th place with a time of 18:09.7, while freshman Nicole Griffiths ran a time of 18:17.9 to record an 18th place finish.
Freshman Anna Busatto placed 22nd (18:26.7), senior Dana Snell finished in 27th place (18:30.4), and freshman Jade Mulvey placed 35th (18:40.1) to round out Utah runners.
"All of our kids ran terrific and all of their times were very good. Lots of progress and improvement across the board, but again not perfect and we can still get better. We are going to have to get better if we want to reach our goals and maximize this year's group," Kepler explained.
The Utes will return to action in two weeks at the Wisconsin Invitational. The race in Madison, Wis., will be on Friday, Oct. 14.
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