McKenna brothers propel men’s cross to second place
The Utah State cross-country team got what they were hoping for in the first meet of the season: a strong start and promising performance from young runners.
The front-runners for the Aggie men, who finished fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, were brothers Brian and Kyle McKenna, and Daniel Howell. The three runners’ times were within three seconds of each other and led the Utah State men to a second-place finish overall.
“The improvement that we’ve shown, both on the men’s and women’s side, from two weeks ago when we started, to now, is phenomenal,” head coach Gregg Gensel said.
Finishing first overall was nationally-ranked BYU. The Cougars, who are ranked in the Top 25, won the meet with a score of 24 points. The Y. was followed by the Aggies, with 43 points, and Weber State University rounded out the competition, with 57 points.
After the first two laps of the 7-kilometer race, Brian McKenna looked strong against his competitors. The senior also looked to be in good shape to defend his 2010 Utah State Open title but ran out of steam during the final push. He finished 19 seconds out of first, and .02 seconds ahead of his brother, Kyle.
“Having them at the end really helped,” Brian McKenna said. “I kind of wish we would have strategized more when I got a little gap between me and the leaders.”
The younger McKenna, Kyle, ran well in his first race. He crossed the finish line with a time of 21:06.9 in his first race as an Aggie, an impressive time for the freshman, who finished seconds ahead of USU’s Howell, a strong WAC front-runner the past two years.
Other Aggies finishing in the Top 15 were Hunter Nelson (12th, 21:54), Devin Lang (13th, 21:55) and Utah State track and field distance runner Eric Larson (14th, 22:03).
“We’ve got a little ways to go for our experienced runners to get a little more speed,” Brian McKenna said. “But it was a good chance for our freshmen to prove themselves.”
The Aggie women also showed young talent during the meet. The Utah State runners ran against in-state rivals BYU, Weber State and the University of Utah, all of whom have very strong cross-country programs.
The women’s field was lead by the Cougars, who ran to a score of 40 points, barely coming in ahead of Weber’s 41 points. In third place, was U of U., with a score of 55 points, followed by USU with a score of 94.
Hannah Williams came in first for Utah State, with a time of 18:05.8. Williams, a sophomore who is usually on the track during the 1500 meters for the Aggies, felt she fared well in her first long distance race, she said, but also found room for improvement.
“I wasn’t a big cross-country runner before this, and I’m still getting into it,” Williams said. “But I’m happy with (my time).”
Finishing second for the Aggies, was Stephanie Burt. Burt crossed the line with a time of 18:12.3.
The Aggie women were without two of their strongest runners, Saturday. Ruth Hilton who is nursing a foot injury, and Jessie Chugg, who competed unattached during the meet. Chugg, who was USU’s top-placer at last year’s Utah State Open, finished 19th, with a time of 18:15.
This year Utah State Open’s course was unfamiliar territory for the Aggies. The Man vs. Mud 5-kilometer mud run forced the Aggies to carve out a completely different course than in years past. The race was held adjacent to the previous course, in converted farmland.
Although the Aggies had more time to prepare than the visiting teams, they still struggled on the fresh terrain.
“Probably the biggest (challenge) was finding a rhythm because you get enough turns and enough uneven ground, and you really can’t find that (rhythm),” Brian McKenna said. “And I think I had it pretty good, but I could have used a little more preparation to be solid for the last half of the race.”
The Aggies hit the trails again Sept. 19, at the Montana State Open, in Bozeman, Montana.
—meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu