Ever since head coach Kyle Kepler took over the reins of the Utah cross country team 11 years ago, he has been waiting for this superlative moment. For the first time in school history, the Utes competed as a team in the Division I NCAA Cross Country National Championships.
The Utes finished in 26th place out of the 31 teams that competed in the national championships. Utah finished with 618 points, beating out Kansas, San Francisco, Tulsa, Villanova and Texas.
Although the team did not place as high as they would have liked, Kepler recognizes all the time and effort that was put in to make it this far and knows this season was definitely one to remember.
“We were hoping to finish a little higher, but our kids gave great efforts today,” Kepler said. “We have had just an incredible year. These kids have taken this program to a height that we have never reached before. We know that we didn’t have our best day today, but I thought our seniors particularly ran well today. All of our girls ran as hard as they could.”
The final meet of the season for the Utes, held Saturday at Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky., was the main goal for the team all season long. Hannah McInturff, Sarah Feeny, Susannah Hurst, Andrea Chavez, Jocelyn Todd, Jessica Sams and Shaylen Crook all completed in the six kilometer race for Utah.
But even before the race even started, Kepler could not stop talking about how hard his team had worked for this moment and takes no credit for their recent accomplishments.
“They have pushed each other and worked together all season and I think that this is probably the biggest difference,” Kepler said. “We were on a mission this year to do it together and I think that is why we have had the success we have had. They are the ones who did it and they deserve all of the credit. I am just excited to ride along as one of their coaches and get to go to the NCAA Championships with them.”
Sophomore McInturff led the Utes on Saturday, finishing in 104th place, with a time of 20:51.3. Sophomore Feeny was the next Utah runner to cross the tape, finishing in 166th place, with a time of 21:17.6.
Senior Hurst, running in her last race as a Ute, finished two spots behind Feeny and crossed the finish line in 168th place, tallying a time of 21:18.7.
Utah senior Chavez finished in 173rd place, with a time of 21:21.2. Todd, another Ute running her last race for the school, came in 190th place, with a time of 21:31.0. Junior Sams finished in 220th place with a time of 21:57.6, and sophomore Crook passed the finish line in 227th place with a time of 22:03.8.
Although the Utes finished near the bottom of the pack, the runners didn’t hang their heads. After all, they finally broke into the Division I NCAA Championships race and although the final rankings aren’t out yet, it is safe to say that the Utes will be one of the top 30 teams in Division I women’s cross country for 2015.
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