USU hosts, wins cross country meet

Utah State men’s and women’s cross country teams came in first place Saturday at the Utah State Invitational in Logan to start off the 2015-2016 season.

“It’s always nice to open with your first meet at home,” said USU head coach Gregg Gensel. “It makes the athletes more comfortable because they’re used to the facility.”

The only other team to compete in the meet was Westminster College.

Utah State sophomore Justin Sheets finished first in the men’s 7k with a time of 20:43.59. Sheets narrowly edged out teammates junior Colby Wilson, who ran a 20:43.90, and sophomore Dillon Maggard’s time of 20:44.19.

“It went pretty well,” Wilson said. “We were divided into two groups. There were four of us in the front and the rest of them kind of hung out in the back. We were able to stick as a group through four miles, which showed that we are stronger than we thought and we can really pull it together and have a good season.”

Utah State freshman Kashley Carter won the women’s 5k with a time of 17:39.78. Other top Aggie finishers were sophomore Jackie Heaps at the 18:09.00 mark and sophomore Kelsey Yamauchi at 18:11.71. Yamauchi took fourth and fifth place in the women’s 5k.

“I feel great,” Carter said. “That was fun and I felt really strong today. I don’t know if the first race is a good place to judge where I’m at yet, but with a couple of races I’ll figure out where I’m at, and hopefully I’ll just keep on getting better.”

The Utah State Invitational was the only home meet of the year for Utah State. Utah State’s next meet will be Sept. 19, when the team travels to Bozeman, Montana for the Montana State Invitational.

— joebaraiolo@gmail.com

Twitter: @joefish_2