Cross country men, women look strong at annual race
Finishing second and third, respectively, in BYU’s annual Autumn Classic, the Utah State women’s and men’s cross country teams are in good shape early in their seasons.
The competition this year included BYU, UVSC, Boise State, Minnesota (men only), and USU.
“David Danley has done what he has need to do to run with the best,” Coach Greg Gensel said about the senior runner.
Danley had an incredible day taking fourth in the 4-mile event with a time of 20:03.4 minutes. Clark Bryner took eighth place in the event with a time of 20:32.6 minutes.
“David ran very well considering he hadn’t practiced much this week due to a required school field trip,” Gensel said of Danley. “For him to be there at the end is a real thrill. Clark ran awfully well too.”
On the women’s side, Lida Riplinger finished the day in eighth after falling behind early with a time of 18:51 minutes in the 5-kilometer course.
“Lida and Stacy [Lifferth] both had stand out performances for us,” Gensel said.
Lifferth, a freshman, finished 13th in the race. Other Top 20 times were posted by Ashley Johnson (14), Becki Bostwick (16), and Carolyn Andrus (19).
“All you can do is ask them to do is work hard in practice and improve every week and they have done that,” Gensel said.
In two weeks the team will travel to Minnesota to take on the Golden Gophers.
-mlglade@cc.usu.edu