USU men’s cross country places 16th at NCAA Championship

On Saturday, November 23rd The Utah State Aggies’ men’s cross country team placed 16th overall in the NCAA Division 1 Cross Country National Championship, held at the LeVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. it was the best finish in the team’s history with 428 total points. An accomplishment aided by the fact that five Aggies placed in the top 100 runners despite the wet and muddy conditions.   

Senior Luke Beattie placed an Aggie best 49th with a time of 31:33.9. After him, four Aggies finished within five seconds of each other. Senior J.D. Thorn finished 90th with a time of 32:01.7, senior James Withers placed 94th with a time of 32:05.5, senior Adam Hendrickson placed 96th with a time of 32:05.8, and sophomore Caleb Garnica placed 99th with a time of 32:06.3. The Aggies also had sophomore Roberto Porras finish 132nd with a time of 32:28.1 and Senior Dallin Farnsworth finished 167th with a time of 33:02.5.

Of the team’s finish, Utah State head coach Artie Gulden said, “I could not be prouder of the guys. They ran in some of the sloppiest conditions I’ve ever seen and ran so tough. To put it in basketball terms, we made the Sweet Sixteen.” 

Utah State placed the best of any Mountain West Conference team, besting conference rival Boise State (525 points) by five spots. The Aggies also placed fourth for teams in the Mountain Region, trailing only Brigham Young University, Northern Arizona, and Colorado. Of those three Brigham Young University finished first with a total of 109 points, Northern Arizona placed second with a total of 163 points, and Colorado finished third with a total of 164 points. 

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