CEDAR CITY, Utah – Both the Utah Valley University men's and women's cross country teams posted third-place finishes on Saturday morning at the SUU Color Country Invitational at Cedar Ridge Golf Course in Cedar City.
With a number of starters taking the competition off on both the UVU men's and women's squads, the Wolverines placed third out of four teams on each side. Idaho State won the men's 6K race with 25 points, while No. 15 SUU placed second (33), UVU third (79) and Dixie State fourth (108). The host Thunderbirds won the women's 4K with 32 points, while the Bengals finished second (36), the Wolverines third (55) and the Trailblazers fourth (99).
On the women's side,
Aisha Graham-Perez and
Abby West paced the Wolverines by placing eighth and ninth, respectively. Graham-Perez posted the top UVU finish with a solid time of 15:15 while West finished right behind her at 15:17.
Abby Linford and
Skye Jeppson followed in 11th (15:21) and 12th (15:33), while
Paityn Chynoweth followed in 15th (15:42), as the top-five Utah Valley women all recorded top-15 finishes on the day.
Six other Utah Valley women competed in the race, and
Mary Christensen led the group by placing 20th with a time of 16:09.
Sara Diener followed in 21st (16:14),
Annicka Perry in 23rd (16:23),
Maddie Riggs 24th (16:29),
Emily Jones 26th (16:33) and
Rebekah Christensen 29th (16:51).
Freshman
Hawk Call led the way for the men's team by recording a ninth-place finish overall with a time of 19:22.
Lamek Keditukei was next by placing 15th (19:35), while
Jared Gonzalez-Perez followed in 21st (19:54),
Kale Sharp in 25th (20:07) and
Brandon Edmondson rounded out UVU's scorers with a 28th-place finish (20:12).
Keelan Balderree also ran well by finishing in 41st place with a time of 21:00.
The Wolverines will next return to the Midwest to take part at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals next Saturday (Oct. 13) in Madison, Wisconsin. The meet will be streamed live on FloTrack.org. Following Saturday's races, UVU will prepare for the 2018 Men's and Women's Cross Country WAC Championships that will take place on Oct. 27 in Seattle, Washington.
