CEDAR CITY, Utah — Sila Kiplagat and Morgan Nokes took home the individual titles with course record-breaking times as Utah Valley cross country won the Color Country Invitational on Saturday morning in Cedar City.
Kiplagat and teammates Wyatt Mortenson and Jayden Fitzgarrald ran a dominating race to take the top three spots. The Wolverine trio finished just over a minute ahead of the next runners.
"Sila led from start to finish and was followed closely by Wyatt," said head coach Scott Houle. "Our 1-2-3 punch is looking good, and the rest of the guys did a great job."
Kiplagat led the men's team to the team title with a course-record 18:03.23 6k time. The Wolverines had five of the top seven finishers on the men's side, with Mortenson (2nd, 18:06.51), Fitzgarrald (3rd, 18:10.53), Cameron Jacobs (4th, 19:17.22), and Cayden Tupper (7th, 19:26.33) rounding out the scorers.
The win for the Wolverine Women is the team's fifth straight at Cedar Ridge Golf Course, dating back to the 2021 season. Nokes' individual title is already her third in just four races so far this season.
"Morgan had a really good race and led start to finish," said Houle. "She had a really good rebound from Gans Creek. Elisabeth Ferrell had one of her best races for us. She's really going to move us up the team board."
Nokes took first by just under a minute, continuing a trend of fast finishes from her previous three races. Nokes took the individual titles at the UVU Invitational and Beehive Classic by 40 seconds and 38 seconds respectively. Last week at Gans Creek, Nokes took 18th against a stacked field, breaking the previous course record.
Ari Trimble took her third runner-up finish of the year with a time of 14:26.59, taking second behind Nokes in each of her previous wins. Ferrell had her top finish of the year, taking third with a time of 14:37.04. Natalia Boltz (6th, 14:48.90), Addison Pettingill (9th, 14:55.43), and Julie Moore (10th, 14:57.57) rounded out the top 10.
Utah Valley will have a week off before wrapping up the regular season at the Princeton Fall Classic on Oct. 17. The women will run first at 8:30 a.m. MDT, followed by the men at 9:15.
