After winning each of the year’s first three meets?including the prestigious Stanford Invitational?Utah cross country standout Teren Jameson had little, if anything, to prove.
But now that his teammates held their own without him at Saturday’s Utah State Invitational, they’re starting to finally resemble something other than a one-man team.
The U men placed second, and the women third, among the five competing teams at USU, while Jameson did not compete, in the season’s final regular season meet and last tune-up preceding this month’s MWC Championships.
Lion Gallegos was the top finisher for either Ute team placing eighth in the men’s competition in a final time of 23 minutes, 51 seconds.
Colby Frazier was the team’s only other top-10 finisher, coming in 10th in a time of 24 minutes even. Teammates Nephi Tyler and BJ Christenson followed immediately thereafter, coming in two and three seconds later, respectively, to place 11th and 12th.
Rounding out the U men’s roster were Romney Stevens (16th), Adam Parker (39th) and Jason Judkins (53rd).
Leading the way on the women’s side were top-20 finishers Tara Hall (15th, 18:20) and Trina Bateman (17th, 18:24). The rest of the pack consisted of Elise Greenwood (21st, 18:30), Julie and Jen Osguthorpe, who placed 30th and 47th, respectively, Daisy Freedman (53rd), Ashley Lawrence (57th), Alisa Fogt (61st) and Rachel Cieslewicz (71st).
Meanwhile, Jameson, a 2000 All-American who won at Idaho State and Montana this year, in addition to obliterating the star-studded field at Stanford by eclipsing his closest competitor by 12 seconds, sat this race out, so as not to risk injury heading into the conference competition, to be held Oct. 27 in Albuquerque, N.M.
Host Utah State won both the men’s and women’s competitions; Idaho State tied for second with the Utes in the men’s race, while placing third in the women’s; the Valparaiso men were fourth and the women fifth, while the Wyoming women placed fourth and the men fifth.