ABILENE, Texas — Utah Valley University women's cross country captured its fourth WAC Championship on Friday morning as the 27th-ranked Wolverines upset No. 12 California Baptist at Zoe Park. The title is the squad's second in the last three seasons and ninth WAC championship combined between the men's and women's programs.
 
The win is the Wolverines' sixth team victory this season. The Utah Valley men also showed well, taking second after being picked to finish third in the coaches' poll earlier this week.
 
Ari Trimble led the women's team with a second-place finish in the 6k, completing the course in 20:22.6 while California Baptist's Greta Karinauskaite (19:49.8) ran away with the individual title. The Lancers also had the third-place finisher in Grace McLaughlin, but UVU placed all five scorers in the top 10; Morgan Nokes (20:35.0), Anna Martin (20:38.7), and Lydia Beus (20:42.6) took spots five through seven, and Abbie Fuhriman (20:50.4) was 10th.
 
"Every single one of us came in knowing exactly what we had to do, exactly where we needed to be, and everyone followed through on it," Trimble told the WAC after the race.
 
All five earned first-team All-WAC honors while Oakley Olson (12th, 21:02.7) and Caila Odekirk (14th, 21:10.7) were second-team all-conference. Abby Linford (21st, 21:30.9) and Agnieszka Lubowska (24th, 21:56.0) rounded out all nine Wolverine women competing, finishing just outside All-WAC recognition. The women's team dedicated its championship run to local teenager and cross country runner, Siena Schoenrock, who passed away following an auto-pedestrian accident on Oct. 16. 
 
"We've put ourselves in some really good races throughout the year, so we've had some great competition," said UVU head coach Scott Houle. "We've had to work our way through races against some big names. With CBU, we knew we had to put our best race out there. We had to run a little more reactive than anything and pay attention to how the race was going."
 
The Wolverines finished with 30 points while California Baptist had 36. UT Arlington (92), Southern Utah (115), and Grand Canyon (134) rounded out the top five in the 11-team competition.
 
Mo Guled, in his first season at Utah Valley, finished fifth in the 8k with a time of 23:45.0 and was the top non-CBU runner. The Lancers won the team title after having the top four and the seventh-place finisher to tally just 17 points. The Wolverines finished with 57 points and landed ahead of Southern Utah (67), UT Arlington (152), and Utah Tech (165).
 
Guled was joined on the All-WAC first team by Abdulsalam Farah (9th, 23:57.1) and Gilbert Olivas (23:59.1). All three are newcomers to the Wolverine squad this season. Joel Mendez (12th, 24:18.1) earned second-team All-WAC and Adam Bunker (21st, 24:45.9) rounded out the scoring for the men. Austin Hone (25th, 24:53.9), Andrew Blackham (30th, 25:10.0), and Gio Ramirez (36th, 25:21.0) were the remaining Wolverines with all finishing in the top 40 of the 88-man race. 
 
For Houle, it's his 12th WAC Coach of the Year honor when combining cross country and track & field. Houle also led UVU to 20 Great West Conference championships (eight in cross country) during the team's tenure in that league before joining the WAC in 2013. The All-WAC honors for Trimble are the second for her after earning second-team last season as a freshman. Odekirk was also second-team a season ago for the Wolverines. It's also the second All-WAC honor for Mendez, who was first-team in 2022. 
 
Utah Valley will now prep for the NCAA Mountain Regionals, which will be held on Friday, Nov. 10 in Lubbock, Texas.
 

---

 
Utah Valley Honors
Women's Coach of the Year: Scott Houle
Women's All-WAC
First Team: Ari Trimble, Morgan Nokes, Anna Martin, Lydia Beus, Abbie Fuhriman
Second Team: Oakley Olson, Caila Odekirk
 
Men's All-WAC
First Team: Mo Guled, Abdulsalam Farah, Gilbert Olivas
Second Team: Joel Mendez
 
2023 WAC CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
 
2023 WAC Men's Cross Country 8K Team Results
 

Rank	Team	Points
1.	California Baptist	17
2.	Utah Valley	57
3.	Southern Utah	67
4.	UT Arlington	152
5.	Utah Tech	165
6.	Tarleton State	166
7.	Grand Canyon	207
8.	Abilene Christian	213
9.	Stephen F. Austin	215
10.	UTRGV	255
11.	Seattle U	306

 
2023 Men's All-WAC First Team

1. Arturs Medveds, California Baptist – 23:37.90
2. Giedrus Valincius, California Baptist – 23:38.00
3. Valentin Soca, California Baptist – 23:38.10
4. Matias Reynaga, California Baptist – 23:42.70
5. Guled Mohamid, Utah Valley – 23:45.00
6. Jacob Peterson, Southern Utah – 23:51.70
7. Rikus Van Niekerk, California Baptist – 23:54.80
8. Travis Feeny, Southern Utah – 23:57.30
9. Abdulsalam Farah, Utah Valley – 23:59.10
10. Gilbert Olivas, NM State – 24:12.00

2023 Men's All-WAC Second Team

11. Kevin Baez, Tarleton State – 24:16.90
12. Joel Mendez, Utah Valley – 24:18.10
13. Pedro Marin, California Baptist – 24:23.60
14. Coleman Cragun, Southern Utah – 24:27.90
15. Patrick Estes, UT Arlington – 24:31.30
16. Noah Jenkins, Southern Utah – 24:34.10
17. Joaquin Campos, California Baptist – 24:36.40
18. Kevin Castruita, Abilene Christian – 24:40.20
19. Cannon Angotti, Grand Canyon – 24:41.40
20. Rogelio Aguirre, UT Arlington – 24:44.30

 
2023 WAC Women's Cross Country 6K Team Results
 

Rank	Team	Points
1.	Utah Valley	30
2.	California Baptist	36
3.	UT Arlington	92
4.	Southern Utah	115
5.	Grand Canyon	134
6.	Seattle U	192
7.	Utah Tech	200
8.	Stephen F. Austin	216
9.	Abilene Christian	247
10.	Tarleton State	303
11.	UTRGV	306

 
2023 Women's All-WAC First Team

1. Greta Karinauskaite, California Baptist – 19:49.80
2. Ari Trimble, Utah Valley – 20:22.60
3. Grace McLaughlin, California Baptist – 20:24.20
4. Matro Jepkemboi, UT Arlington – 20:33.40
5. Morgan Nokes, Utah Valley – 20:35.00
6. Anna Martin, Utah Valley – 20:38.70
7. Lydia Beus, Utah Valley – 20:42.60
8. Marina Trave, California Baptist – 20:47.10
9. Sariah Hernandez, Southern Utah – 20:49.60
10. Abbie Fuhriman, Utah Valley – 20:50.40

2023 Women's All-WAC Second Team

11. Yasna Petrova, California Baptist – 20:58.50
12. Oakley Olson, Utah Valley – 21:02.70
13. Emilia Mikszuta, California Baptist – 21:09.20
14. Caila Odekirk, Utah Valley – 21:10.70
15. Carlota Rodes, California Baptist – 21:15.40
16. Azaela Groleau, Seattle U – 21:16.30
17. Abir Reffas, California Baptist – 21:18.60
18. Maja Dzialoszewska, California Baptist – 21:23.10
19. Winnie Kipsang, UT Arlington – 21:25.00
20. Mercy Biwott, UT Arlington – 21:26.90