RENO, Nevada — The Utah Valley University men's and women's cross country teams competed at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships on Friday at Washoe Golf Course with Caila Odekirk and Mo Guled leading the way.
 
The Utah Valley women, who entered the regional as the No. 30 team in the country, finished fifth, right where they've been ranked in the region throughout the season. It also matched the team's best finish at regionals, which is where the team finished a season ago. Odekirk was 24th to lead the way with a 6k time of 20:17.7. Anna Martin, the WAC Champion and WAC Women's Athlete of the Year was next, taking 28th in 20:28.0.
 
Ari Trimble (20:34.9) and Julie Sumsion (20:36.7) were 32nd and 33rd, respectively, with Allie Warner landing in 44th (20:51.4) and Oakley Olson (20:52.7) right on her heels in 45th. Liz Zwahlen finished in 21:17.4 for place 63rd place to round out Utah Valley's seven competitors.
 
The top four teams to finish at the regional are all in the USTFCCCA Top 10. No. 1 BYU won the regional, followed No. 4 Northern Arizona, No. 10 New Mexico, and No. 9 Utah. New Mexico's Pamela Kosgei was the women's individual champion, finishing the 6k in 19:30.9.
 
Guled was 22nd in the men's 10k, crossing the line in 29:49.2. The Wolverine men finished 13th as a team. Gilbert Olivas was next for Utah Valley, taking 74th in 31:08.9. Austin Hone finished 77th with a time of 31:19.3, while Tate James (81st, 31:28.6), Adam Bunker (82nd, 31:29.0), and Andrew Blackham (83rd, 31:29.6) all crossed the line in succession. Wyatt Mortenson (94th, 32:08.0) rounded out the seven Wolverine men.
 
Texas Tech's Solomon Kipchoge won the men's regional in 28:55.9 with top-ranked BYU winning the team title. No. 6 New Mexico was second to earn the second of the team automatic team berths to the finals. 
 
The Utah Valley women team are now hopeful that their body of work over the course of the season will earn the squad a third consecutive NCAA Championship appearance. The NCAA cross country selection show will air on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 3 p.m. MT on NCAA.com. The NCAA Championships are next Saturday, Nov. 23 in Madison, Wisconsin.