After having success at the Montana State Invitational in years past, the Utah cross country team was looking to come away from last weekend’s event with a win.
Unfortunately for the Utes, they finished in third place, a spot they were not happy with.
“Ending up in third place is really disappointing,” said Utah head coach Kyle Kepler. “We really wanted to win, but now we know what we got to do. The kids are all disappointed after this, but are looking to step up in our next race.”
While the team’s finish was disappointing, some individual Ute runners ended the day well. Leading the charge for Utah was Rebekah Winterton, who was making her season debut. She finished in second place overall with a time of 17:23.00. Her teammates Susannah Hurst and Andrea Chavez also finished in the top 10. Hurst finished in fourth while Chavez took eighth.
“For the most part, I am very happy with how I competed,” Winterton said. “My goal was to finish in the top three, so it feels good to accomplish what I set out to do. It was frustrating, though, to come in two seconds behind the winner when we ran the same pace the entire race besides the first 200 meters.”
After the event, the Utes are still in search of a consistent fifth runner to help them stay competitive. As one of the veterans on the squad, Winterton knows her team has talent, but runners need to learn how to use it.
“We have five freshmen that have a lot of potential,” Winterton said. “They just need to understand how to run a smart college race. With a few more weeks of workouts and races, I think everyone will catch on and we will get into our rhythm.”
Utah runners will need to catch on quickly, as their next event is the Stanford Invitational this weekend in Palo Alto, Calif.
“Stanford is one of my favorite races,” Winterton said. “The course is filled with people cheering and there are plenty of talented individuals and teams to compete against. I think our team is capable of being in the top five, but we will have to stay tough mentally and physically.”
Even though this race may be fun to compete in, Kepler is more focused on fixing problems and helping his runners become better as a team.
“We need to have sharp practices this week and gain more confidence,” he said. “This race really helps, and we need to stay engaged and focused. This is a great time to see where we are at.”