It was a dominating day for Utah Valley cross country as both the men and the women posted six top-10 finishes en route to sweeping the team competitions and becoming Independent Champions. The team wins mark the second consecutive meet that both Wolverine squads have taken home first place.
"Both the men and the women ran their best races of the year today," Utah Valley Head Coach Scott Houle said. "These last two wins show that we are definately improving. We are happy to see that we are progressing and getting the high-caliber athletes to perform well."
Utah Valley’s top women’s runner, Ayisha Mitchell, who has been a mainstay atop the women’s results throughout the year, won the race with a time of 21 minutes, 7.97 seconds. Karinne Bentley finished second in the race with a time of 21:58.53 in the six-kilometer race.
The women dominated the race, with six runners finishing in the top-10. Ashley Evans finished fourth (22:12.46), Trisha Wright fifth (22:31.90), Mary Nothum sixth (22:43.69) and Aleina Eisenhauer 10th (23:30.19)
"Ayisha and a girl from Texas-Pan American ran really close until the final two miles then she just pulled away," Houle said.
"She ran a really good race. The rest of the team ran together and ran strong and all scored well."
Chase Englestead finished tops among UV runners and finished second in the race. Englestead posted a personal-best 24:45.12 in the eight kilometer race.
Like the women’s team, the men had a dominating race with six top-10 finishers. Danny Moody finished fourth (25:25.00), his brother Derick Moody finished fifth (25:36.43), Danny Barney finished sixth (25:44.44), Clark Nielson seventh (25:44.44) and Macy Butterfield ninth (25:54.51).
"Chase ran a really great race, running below 25 minutes for the first time," Houle said. "Danny and Derick Moody, Danny Barney, Clark and Macy all ran extremely smart. They ran great as a team."
In the team competition, the men posted a total time of 2:07:18.76 and an average of 25:27.76 per runner. The Wolverines scored 24 points to UTPA’s 29.
On the women’s side, UV posted a total team time of 1:50:34.55 for an average of 22 minutes flat. The women’s average time was over one minute better than second-place Texas Pan-American. The Wolverines nearly posted a perfect team score but still won by a comfortable 18 to 44 margin over UTPA.
With the season wrapped up, the runners will now focus on the upcoming track season.
