In the biggest meet of the season to date, the Utah women’s cross-country team participated in the Notre Dame Invitational last weekend and came away with a fifth-place finish with 164 points. This was the last race before the team will prepare for the NCAA Pre-National meet, and Utah took advantage of running against some tougher competition.
With the strong showing, the Utes had a lot to be excited about heading into some of the more important races of the season.
“We ran really well,” said Utah head coach Kyle Kepler. “There were just some great performances for us across the board.”
Utah’s top two performances came from sophomores Sarah Feeny and Hannah McInturff, who both finished in the top 10 overall. It was the first race of the season for both of the runners, and they clearly showed they were fresh and ready for the season.
“It was great to run with my teammates,” Feeny said. “I was just a little nervous to see how I would do, but I ended up feeling good throughout the whole race.”
Overall, Utah finished just 14 points behind the 22nd-ranked team in the country in Vanderbilt, and 21 points behind the host team and No. 20 Notre Dame.
“To be that close to those types of teams is pretty impressive,” Kepler said.
Also putting up a good performance was senior Andrea Chavez, who finished 43rd overall.
Though the performance was a good one for Utah, Kepler knows there are things that need to be worked on, particularly when fatigue begins to set in during a race.
“They may have lost a few positions; we still have some areas where we can improve,” Kepler said.
But that’s a big part of what these races show. They help teams and runners get a feel for different courses, among other things. In Feeny’s mind, this meet was a great measuring stick to see where she and her teammates are at.
“I was super happy for us,” Feeny said. “We’re working our way up, and we beat a lot of high-caliber teams, which is important for getting to Nationals.”
As mentioned earlier, the Utes now have about two weeks “off” until they race again. The athletes will be the first to tell you, however, that the off time is anything but what it sounds like. In fact, it’s right back to work for Kepler and company.
“We’ll head home and have two really good, hard workouts,” Kepler said. “We’ll stay on it and keep trying to get better.”
The Pre-National meet will be held on Oct. 17 in Louisville, Ky.
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