After a long layoff, the Utah cross country team will head to San Diego State this weekend for the women’s 6K race of the Mountain West Conference Championship.
Leading the Utes will be Alyssa Abbott and Chelsea DiGrazia. Abbott posted a personal best time of 21 minutes 14 seconds at the NCAA Pre-Nationals on Oct. 18. DiGrazia has consistently been one of the top finishers for the Utes this season.
Other runners to watch this week will be Lauren Endersen and Janett Ern. Endersen will be looking to continue her streak of impressive finishes for the Utes while Ern will be looking to improve on her personal record time of 22:17.
“We don’t need any one runner to try to do too much,” said head coach Kyle Kepler. “We just need all of them to have great individual efforts on the same day.”
The Utes are ranked No. 6 in the region after falling just 20 points short of a Top 20 finish in the 39-team competition at the NCAA Pre-Nationals two weeks ago. It’s the highest ranking for the Utes since being ranked No. 5 in the region back in 1996, according to a Utah press release.
“The championship portion of our schedule begins with the Mountain West Conference Championships,” Kepler said. “This is why the women run all the miles they run and train as hard as they do.”
The MWC Championships will begin tomorrow at Mission Bay Park in San Diego, Calif., with the race beginning at 10 a.m. PT.
James Boehly
The Daily Utah Chronicle > Sports
Women travel to Cali tourney
Published: Friday, October 31, 2008
Updated: Friday, October 31, 2008
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