MADISON, Wis. — Habtamu Cheney finished seventh for the Utah Valley University men while
Everlyn Kemboi was 13th for the women in their respective races at the stacked Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Friday morning at the Zimmer Championship Course at the University of Wisconsin.
The Utah Valley women, ranked 19th in the country, competed in the championship race and were led by Kemboi's time of 20:09.2. The women's race was comprised of 24 of the top 30 teams in the USTFCCCA National Top 30 Poll. The Wolverines finished 20th as a team, right behind No. 14 Arkansas and one spot ahead of No. 18 Michigan.
"Eva was Eva, again. She ran really well and had a solid result. She was up there with the leaders the whole time," said UVU head coach
Scott Houle. "Mazzie is a machine and Madison had a great race, and we knew Ari was good and she's starting to see that potential. We beat some very good teams, teams that we needed to beat, as we continue to try and strengthen our fight to get to the NCAA Championship."
Mazzie Melaney Preston was next for UVU, coming in at 90th with a time of 20:50.0.
Madison Flippence (136th, 21:05.5),
Ari Trimble (138th, 21:06.0), and
Maggie Zwahlen (174th, 21:24.0) rounded out the five team scorers for the Wolverines. The women's championship had 36 teams and 263 runners competing.
The men finished fifth as a team in their race, led by Cheney, with
Joel Mendez landing in 10th. Cheney ran the 8k in 24:21.8 with Mendez less than two seconds behind him, at 24:23.3.
Austin Hone was 20th overall (24:33.1),
Max Mahon finished 50th (24:56.5) and
Adrian Jones capped the team scoring with a 75th-place result (25:12.3).
"The guys all ran really well. It was nice to see Habs get back to where he is capable. Joel and Max started out great and finished solid and getting Adrian back after his injury last year is really helping us down the stretch," Houle said. "Overall, the races went well. The kids were solid and progressing as we get ready for conference."
The Wolverine women also had a contingent of runners in an earlier race, with Hailey Phillips leading the way, taking 43rd with a 6k time of 21:55.2.
Both teams will have one more event, next Thursday, Oct. 20 at the Utah Open, in preparation for the WAC Championships on Oct. 29.
