The University of Utah cross country team is not looking for a championship or even a second- or third-place finish. It just wants to improve on last year’s results in the Mountain West Conference Championships, which will be held Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M.
Ute coach Brian Appell would like to see a fourth-place finish in the men’s competition. Appell just wants the women’s team to improve from last year, as they have been completely rebuilding.
The men’s squad will face stiff competition. Three MWC teams are more talented than the Utes.
MWC teams BYU, Air Force and Colorado State are ranked nationally, and it is hard to see the Utes finishing ahead of either of them.
“We want the men’s team to finish fourth to show our improvement over the season, but some teams ahead of us might mess up and give us a chance to move up in the rankings,” Appell said.
The top spot in the competition should go to Utah’s Teren Jamison, as he has dominated competition around the country.
The question remains?how will the other athletes run for the Utes? Sophomore Colby Frazier and Lion Gallegos are the runners the Utes need to answer that question.
Jamison has been receiving first- place awards all season, but now runners Frazier and Gallegos are doing well.
The women’s squad is much more fragile. The women have placed high this season, but have not faced many conference foes.
“This year is a building year, and we are hoping that athletes can run up to their current ability level. We have not competed against many teams in the conference, so estimating the possible finishing place will be difficult. This will be a good experience for the future,” Appell said.
Tara Hall, Trina Bateman and Elise Greenwood have run well thus far. However, the trio will need to run even better to improve from last year’s fourth- place finish.
Considering former coach Mike Jones’ departure and the rebuilding year the Utes have gone through, a fourth-place finish would be a solid start for this program to grow from.