PROVO, Utah – Everlyn Kemboi posted the highest NCAA Regional finish in program history by taking 13th in the women's 6K en route to leading Utah Valley University women's cross country to a ninth-place team finish at the 2021 NCAA Mountain Region Championships on Friday at Timpanogos Golf Club in Provo. The UVU men also had a strong showing on Friday by placing 10th in the men's 10K.
Just two weeks removed from earning first team All-WAC honors after placing fourth at the WAC Championships, junior
Everlyn Kemboi followed that up by taking 13th at the stacked NCAA Mountain Regional with a blazing 6K time of 20:40.5. By finishing 13th, Kemboi became the highest NCAA Regional finisher—male or female—in program history en route to earning All-Region honors. She will now await a possible at-large individual selection to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships that will be announced on Monday.
"I was really pleased with how our women's team finished today. The competition here is amazing and I feel that our women's team did a fantastic job both individually and as a team," head UVU coach
Scott Houle said. "It has been nice to see Everlyn getting back into a groove and I'm so thrilled for her and her 13th-place finish—our best-ever NCAA Regional individual finish. Overall, I was pleased with how competitive our entire women's team was and I'm very proud of them."
Behind
Everlyn Kemboi's 13th-place individual finish,
Caila Odekirk continued her strong freshman campaign for the Wolverines by finishing 36th with a time of 21:18.0.
Mazzie Melaney Preston was next by placing 45th (21:28.2). In her final collegiate cross country race, 2020-21 NCAA qualifier
Maddie Bench Empey and fellow senior
Hannah Branch too ran well by placing 60th (21:51.4) and 63rd (21:59.9), respectively.
Maggie Zwahlen and
Zoe Hales rounded out UVU's competitors at the NCAA Mountain Regional by taking 82nd (22:31.7) and 89th (22:41.9).
As a team, the UVU women tied for the second-best NCAA Regional team finish in program history by placing ninth in the tightly contested 19-team race with 217 points. By taking ninth, the Wolverine women finished just five points back of in-state foe Weber State (212) for eighth and 18 back of No. 22 Utah State for seventh (199). The second-ranked New Mexico Lobos won the NCAA Mountain Regional on the women's side with 62 points. The third-ranked Colorado Buffaloes finished second with 83 points followed by No. 4 BYU with 107, No. 19 Colorado State (116), No. 7 Utah (146), and No. 18 Northern Arizona (168). By placing ninth, UVU finished ahead of Air Force (260), Southern Utah (325), Wyoming (356), Nevada (363), Montana State (411), New Mexico State (415), Idaho State (440), UTEP (512), Montana (528), and Texas Tech (539).
On the men's side, senior
Geofrey Kemboi paced the Utah Valley men in his final cross country meet on Friday by taking 38th with a solid 10K time of 30:57.6. The 2020-21 NCAA qualifier
Britain Reynolds was next by placing 51st with a time of 31:30.4 followed by the WAC Freshman of the Year
Max Mahon in 60th (31:44.7).
Habtamu Cheney also ran well for the Wolverines in the meet by placing 70th (32:01.6), while
Joshua Peters took 82nd (32:25.4),
Austin Hone 90th (32:51.8), and
Kale Sharp 96th (33:11.3).
As a team, the Wolverine men placed 10th out of 17 teams with 301 total points. The eighth-ranked and host BYU Cougars won the men's race with 42 points followed by the defending national champion and top-ranked NAU Lumberjacks in second (57). The second-ranked CU Buffaloes finished third with 83 points followed by No. 11 Air Force (130), No. 26 SUU (152), Weber State (155), Montana State (177), No. 21 Utah State (177), and No. 22 Colorado State (216). By taking 10th, UVU finished ahead of Wyoming (308), Nevada (353), UTEP (358), New Mexico (368), Idaho State (452), Montana (473), and Texas Tech (528).
"Our men's team also ran well today. Geofrey led the team with Britain close behind. I think those guys put themselves into a good spot but ended up falling off a little late in the race," Houle added. "The good thing is that we get everyone back from our teams next year other than Geofrey (Kemboi) and Maddie (Bench Empey). I'm excited with how we had a nice year and I'm looking forward to next season."
Everlyn Kemboi and the Wolverines will now await a possible at-large selection to the NCAA Championships that will be announced by the NCAA on Monday. Last year, both Bench Empey and Reynolds qualified and competed for UVU at the 2020-21 NCAA Championships. The 2021 NCAA Championships will be held Saturday, Nov. 20 in Tallahassee, Florida.
Everlyn Kemboi received All-Region honors after recording the top-25 finish.
