Men’s cross country falls short of goal
Finishing a race behind six nationally ranked teams would be considered a good performance by several teams.
However, for the No. 21 ranked Utah State University men’s cross country team, a seventh place finish at the NCAA Mountain Regional Meet on Saturday at Provo’s East Bay Golf Course probably eliminated the Aggies’ chance at qualifying for nationals.
“In this region, there are seven nationally ranked teams and unfortunately we were seventh today,” distance coach Steve Reeder said.
Heading into the race, the Aggie men had a team goal of finishing second behind perennial power Colorado University – the top-ranked team in the country.
A second place finish would have automatically qualified them for the NCAA National Championship Meet, held on Monday, Nov. 19, in Greenville, S.C.
With the top two teams from all nine regional meets automatically qualifying for nationals, plus 13 at-large teams, the Aggies still have a chance to receive an at-large bid.
When asked if USU was in contention for an at-large bid, Reeder said the chances are slim.
“We won’t know until the dust settles [but] it’s not likely,” he said.
As expected, Colorado captured the men’s team title, finishing well ahead of second place finisher Northern Arizona University in the 17-team field (48 points to 73).
USU’s in-state rivals BYU and the University of Utah finished third and sixth, respectively.
“To get your team there [to nationals] is extremely difficult,” Reeder said. “We would have helped ourselves by scoring higher [today].”
Unfortunately for the Aggies, they weren’t able to pack together like they have in previous meets as USU’s fifth place finisher, Dusan Hlubocky, finished 1:30 behind the team’s top runner, Steve Prescott.
For the Aggies, Prescott finished 19th with a time of 31:53, followed by Mike Nielson (21st), Brick Bergeson (34th), Mitch Zundel (42nd) and Hlubocky (65th).
Colorado teammates Jorge Torres and Dathan Ritzenhein took first and second place, less than a second in front of Utah All-American Teren Jameson. Torres finished the 10k race in 30:52.
On the women’s side, the Aggies finished a respectable ninth out of 18 teams – just five points short of the Utes.
Racked up injuries, including a season-ending injury to Shae Messersmith, the Aggie women finished only one place lower than last year’s senior-led squad did.
“I think they meet their expectations,” Reeder said of the Lady Aggies. “Considering the losses we have had injury wise, we competed well.”
Junior Melanie McClellan paced the Aggies, finishing the 6k course in 22:48, good enough for 25th place.
Christi Howell (54th), Kristin Coombs (62nd), Billie Winter (63nd) and Sharee Hatch (74th) were the other Aggie runners that counted toward the team score.
Like the Buffaloes did on the men’s side, the Lady Cougars of BYU, ranked No. 2 in the nation, ran away with the women’s team title as all five of its scoring runners finished in the top 10.
Colorado runner Jodie Hughes took the individual title with a time of 21:13. BYU All-American Tara Northcutt took second place (21:21).
As far as the future is concerned, Reeder said it looks bright for both teams, with both squads being relatively young.
“I think we’re going to have great depth next year,” he said. “We need to if we want to be successful in the future.”
While the cross country season is most likely over, several of the runners will compete in long distance events for the Aggie track team next spring.