For years, the U cross country team has traveled south to participate in rival BYU’s Autumn Classic. This year, head coach Kyle Kepler decided to forgo the trip to Provo in hopes of keeping his team fresh.
“I planned these early season meets to try to mix and match and find out what our best lineup was”, Kepler said. “After Utah State, I felt like we needed some more training time.”
After a week of rest, the team feels more prepared as it heads to Fort Collins, Colo., for the Colorado State Classic.
Kepler and the Utes are hopeful they can get the same kind of performance they got out of Chelsea DiGrazia they witnessed in Logan.
At the Utah State Open two weeks ago, the main headline for the U was runner DiGrazia, who finished first in the 5-kilometer run. For DiGrazia, this was the first time in her entire collegiate career that she’s taken gold in an event.
“It was pretty exciting because I’ve never won a cross country meet,” said DiGrazia. “It was a great feeling.”
DiGrazia, a senior from Elko, Nev., didn’t run cross country competitively in high school but instead played soccer and used track to help her condition. Her time of 17 minutes 57.2 seconds was the first time she has broken 18 minutes at that distance, but she admits it probably wasn’t quite a 5K.
“It was shorter, more like three miles,” DiGrazia said.
Either way, her first-place finish was instrumental in the Utes’ third-place overall finish in the team’s opening meet of the year.
“For someone who never ran high school cross country, this is a pretty amazing feat,” Kepler said.
DiGrazia joined the U’s cross country and track team as a walk-on after being impressed with the team’s physical fitness program. By the end of her freshman year, DiGrazia had established herself as one of the best runners on the team.
After a redshirt season in 2004, DiGrazia was one of the top Ute runners in every cross country meet she ran during 2005. In 2006, however, a joint injury forced DiGrazia to miss much of the season. Before that, DiGrazia fractured her hip during her freshman year, making her first-place finish that much more rewarding.
“I’ve had a lot of injuries,” DiGrazia said. “Whenever you come back from injuries and win a race it’s a good feeling.”
It wasn’t until last year that her career would pick up again. DiGrazia had a breakout year in 2008 with the Utah Track and Field team as she qualified for the NCAA Regionals in the 1500-meter run. Combine that with her first-place finish at the Utah State Open, the pressure will be on DiGrazia to emerge as one of the leaders and pace setters for the team in every race.
“Now it’s kind of like pressure for me to go into the races to lead the team,” DiGrazia said. “There’s kind of that expectation.”
That pressure will start as DiGrazia tries to use the momentum of the Colorado State Classic this weekend.
“It’s going to be hard because Colorado State has tough girls on their team,” DiGrazia said. “It’s going to be some tough competition.”
As the Utes face opposition at the Colorado State Open, Kepler said he wants to use this meet to see how well his runners can work to pace themselves through a race.
“Ultimately we’re looking for individual improvement,” Kepler said. “We’re looking to have our top five finish closer together; within 30 seconds is our goal. If our second through fifth can bunch up and come in together, that would be a big step in the direction we want to go.”
The meet will be Saturday, Sept. 13 at Colorado State’s Hughes Stadium.
Utah AthleticsChelsea DiGrazia finished first at the Utah State open this year, a career first. Utah hopes to finish strong as they head to Fort Collins, CO.