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The Utes will compete in the MWC Championships this weekend.
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Oct. 26, 2004
This Week:
The University of Utah cross country teams will head to San Diego, Calif. for the 2004 Mountain West Conference Cross Country Championship meet Saturday. The San Diego State Aztecs will play host to the meet at Morely Field and will feature all of the MWC men's and women's cross country squads.
Previewing the Competition:
The women's team will compete in the 6,000-meter race which will kick off at 9 a.m. The race will feature No. 12-ranked and defending MWC Champions Brigham Young. No. 24 Colorado State is also among the favorites. Last year, the Utes finished fourth and will look to improve on that placement, by gunning for a top-three finish. The Utes have never finished higher than fourth at the conference championships.
The men's team will compete in the 8,000-meter race starting at 10 a.m. The Utes will face several tough teams with the race featuring No. 10 BYU, 12th-ranked and defending conference champion Air Force, No. 17 Colorado State and No. 23 New Mexico. The men finished fifth in the MWC in 2003.
Quoting Head Coach Brian Appell:
"It's going to be an exciting race for the Utes," states Appell. "The women are hoping to upset and surprise some people and run in the top two or three. If they run to their capability, they could do it. On the men's side, the race is packed with national-caliber teams. We could run extremely well and finish fifth. Hopefully, we can upset some teams by putting our pack in the middle of some of the more vulnerable teams. We are excited to get on a different kind of course with more hills than we normally see. It will be a fun weekend."
Previous Meet:
The Utes finished competition at the NCAA Pre-National meet on Saturday, Oct. 16. Hosted by the Indiana State Sycamores at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course, the meet featured 86 men's teams and 85 women's teams. The Ute men earned a 24th-place finish, while the women placed 27th against many of the country's top teams.
The men's team competed in the blue division, 8,000-meter race and scored 653 points. The blue race featured 12 of the top 30 teams in the country and 256 runners. Senior Delfino Arevalo led the way with an impressive 63rd-place finish (24:53.2).
The women participated in the white division, 6,000-meter race and scored 646 points. The race featured 36 teams and 246 runners. Junior Elise Greenwood led the team with a 44th-place finish and a time of 21:28.3.
Future Meets
The Utes will travel to Fort Collins, Colo., for the 2004 NCAA Mountain Region Championships. Colorado State will host the regional meet on November 13.
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