Gearing up for new year
Utah State’s men’s and women’s cross country teams are looking to get off on the right foot when they play host to the Utah State Open on Saturday.
The men’s and women’s teams from both USU and Weber State University will be competing in the event. The women’s team from the University of Utah will also compete, as well as Utah’s men’s Nordic ski team.
The Utah State Open, which will kick off the 2008-09 season, will be held at the American West Heritage Center. Events start at 9 a.m., and will include a four-mile race by the men and a five-kilometer race by the women.
The men look to improve on their finish in this opener from a season ago where they took second out of four teams. Eleven letter winners are returning on the men’s side, including junior Steve Strickland who finished third at last year’s WAC championships.
Strickland placed 10th in this event last season with a time of twenty-seven minutes, 23.4 seconds.
Sophomore Chio Lopez is another returning letter winner for the Aggies. After a fourth place finish at the 2007 WAC championships, Lopez was named the WAC’s freshman of the year. He recorded an eighth place finish in this season opener a year ago with a time of 27:09.6.
All in all, the Aggie men have dominated the cross country world since arriving in the Western Athletic Conference, winning three straight WAC championships from 2005-2007.
On the women’s side, sophomore Alicia Holt will lead the charge. Holt finished in 14th-place at last year’s WAC championships en route to earning second-team all-WAC honors.
Utah State women’s cross country is looking to get back to their 2006 form when they were also named WAC champions. The Aggie women are no slouches, though: since joining the WAC in 2005 the Aggies have never finished outside the top three.
“I’m excited about the upcoming season and I think we have some good, quality runners on both the men’s and women’s teams,” said USU head coach Gregg Gensel. “At the beginning of every year we want to find out where our conditioning level is and this meet will definitely help us evaluate where we are in a competitive atmosphere.”
After the Utah State Invitational, the Aggies will enjoy a break in action before heading up to Bozeman, Mont. to compete in the Montana State Invitational on Sept. 20.
—t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu