After taking last week off to focus on training, the Utah cross country team was back in competition on Saturday at the Colorado State Open.
Lauren Enderson was the top finisher for the Utes at 13th with a time of 19:59.4. Of the eight schools that competed, the Utes finished third overall.
Head coach Kyle Kepler used this meet to put in his younger players and give them a chance to gain experience in a competitive meet while resting some of his more experienced runners.
“I think we did a great job and competed well,” Kepler said. “Our freshman went out and ran and gave it their all. I am a little disappointed that we let Colorado State control the race.”
Other notable finishers for the Utes were Carly Selleck, who finished 18th with a time of 20:19.6 and Janett Ern, who came in 20th with a time of 20:21.2. Freshman Rachel Perkins also finished strong with a 23rd place finish in only her second collegiate race. Her finishing time was 20:27.4.
“We let them have too big of a lead,” Kepler said. “We started off a little slow, where last week we got going too fast, so we’ll be looking to find the happy medium in our race next week.”
Next week the Utes will head to Bozeman, Mont. for the Montana State Open on Saturday, Sept. 20.