After a fifth-place finish at the Montana State Invitational last week, the Utah cross country team will head to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational.
The six-kilometer race will be the largest of any meet the Utes have attended so far, and they will be competing against more than 20 teams from across the nation.
“This is the first big race of the year,” head coach Kyle Kepler said. “Barring any issues over the next few days, we plan on running our top eight for the first time.”
Those top eight will include Chelsea DiGrazia and Lauren Endersen. DiGrazia has taken gold at the last two meets in which she’s competed, while Endersen will be back in action after taking off last week to rest her foot.
Kepler says his goal for this meet will be to get their top five runners to finish within 30 seconds of each other8212;something the Utes haven’t been able to accomplish so far this season.
At the Stanford Invitational last year, the Utes finished 10th out of 28 teams, with DiGrazia coming in 16th place overall. Both the Utes and DiGrazia will be looking to improve their marks this time around.
“Even though this is our first 6K, it doesn’t change anything,” Kepler said. “It will allow us to be more patient, but at the same time it requires more mental toughness.”
The meet will begin Saturday morning and will take place at the Stanford Golf Course.