Cross-country men and women finish season strong

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Wolverine cross-country men and women rocked the Great West Conference by placing in the top two for the last meet of the 2008 season.

The GWC meet was held at Lakeside Park in Orem last week. The women’s 6k race took place first and the wolverine women finished in 1st place and were crowned the first ever GWC Champions.

“I was excited to have both men and women finish in the top two today,” said cross-country coach Scott Houle, who was awarded GWC Coach of the Year for the women.
Krystal Harper, a freshman from Orem, was UVU’s top finisher placing 6th individually.

“I started to fall back, but brought it back. So I’m pretty happy about it,” Harper said. Harper was also awarded GWC Newcomer of the Year for the women. After receiving the award she said, “It was surprising.”

Harper has had an excellent season being a freshman and feels like she’s met her goals. “It’s my first year, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but I have no regrets,” she added.

Since it’s only Harpers first year, she is ready to take on another season returning as a sophomore. She said her goals for next year are, “For this meet I want to get top 3 and I want to definitely be top 3, hopefully top 2 runners on our team.”

The men ran an 8k race and the Wolverines came away with 2nd place as a team. Joshua McCabe, a freshman from Springville, and Jared Keller, a sophomore from Orem, were UVU’s top finishers placing 4th and 5th individually.

Keller and McCabe stayed together and kept their pack tight for the entire race, and were both very pleased with their results. Keller said, “I was glad I stayed up there and kept myself in position. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

McCabe was awarded GWC Newcomer of the Year for the men. “I felt good about it. I didn’t really know what to expect because it is my first season, but it turned out really well and it was a goal of mine, so I felt pretty excited,” McCabe said.

Being McCabe’s freshman year, he is pleased with his first season, “I couldn’t have hoped for better,” he said. “I feel really good about it. I finished the way I wanted to and I’m ready to stop running for a couple weeks.”

Both the men and the women had excellent seasons this year and finished the season strong. “We’re satisfied with it. We all gave our best and can’t feel bad about that,” McCabe said. “I think we showed good progress. We’re ready to go get them next year,” Keller added.