SALT LAKE CITY — Morgan Nokes finished 7th in the women's 6k race and Sila Kiplagat took 14th in the men's 10k to lead Utah Valley at the NCAA Mountain Regionals at the Salt Lake Regional Athletic Complex. 

With her finish, Nokes has secured her spot in next week's NCAA Championships in Columbia, Mo., as the third-best individual not on an automatically qualifying team. Kiplagat will have to await tomorrow's selection show to know if he qualified.

"Morgan had a great performance at the top of the chase pack," said head coach Scott Houle. "Being able to finish as high as she did was a pretty impressive finish for her. A lot of hard work has paid off and her goal of making the NCAA's has been achieved."

Nokes' seventh-place finish is the second-best placement by any Wolverine at a cross country regional behind only Everlyn Kemboi, who won the 2022 Mountain Regional in Albuquerque. Nokes ran a 6k time of 20:13.0. BYU's Jane Hedengren won the race with a blistering 19:06.6, 42 seconds ahead of second place. New Mexico took the team title, followed by the Cougars in second to take the region's two automatic bids.

The Wolverine women took ninth as a team, finishing ahead of the likes of Texas Tech, Weber State, and Southern Utah. Behind Nokes, Ari Trimble was the next-best finisher at 48th, followed by Artana Nice in 55th. Elisabeth Ferrell took 77th, Natalia Boltz finished 80th, and Paisley Taylor took 87th.

Kiplagat's 14th-place finish was the second-best by a male Wolverine and the best in 13 years. Only Josh McCabe, who took 11th back in 2012, had a better finish in a regional race.

"Sila did a great job as a freshman running in that race," said Houle. "He did a great job of staying in the second pack and letting the pack help him through. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if he qualifies [for Nationals]."

Kiplagat was among the leaders from the first checkpoint on, peaking as high as 10th at the midway point. As a team, the Wolverine men took eighth, matching their ranking in the most recent USTFCCCA regional poll. Utah Valley outpaced Wyoming, who was sixth entering the race, but were bested by Weber State, who was ninth.

Behind Kiplagat, Jayden Fitzgarrald took 50th, with Alex Hartshorn and Porter Whitworth taking 56th and 57th respectively. Wyatt Mortenson finished 66th and Seth Smith took 68th.

The NCAA Cross Country selection show is Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. MT. on NCAA.com. The NCAA Championship meet is scheduled for next Saturday, Nov. 22, at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Mo. The women's race will be at 8:20 a.m. MT, followed by the men's race at 9:10.