Women finish third against tough field
The Utah State women’s cross country team finished in third place this weekend at the Western Athletic Conference championships. As a team, they finished with a total of 72 points, finishing behind Nevada, who place second with 65 team points, and Idaho, who won the race with 39 total points.
“It was a tight race, and the girls ran great. You can’t control what the other teams did,” Head Coach Gregg Gensel said. “The other teams were just better today, but I am proud of them.”
The top three women runners for Utah State in the race were seniors Amy Egan, who placed 11th with a time of 17:34.25, Stacie Dorius, who came in 12th place with a time of 17:35.35, and freshman Alicia Holt, who came in 14th place with a time of 17:38.27. All three girls were named second-team all-WAC performers. “We had a strong performance, and we ran the best of our abilities,” Egan said.
Egan said she believes the high altitude was a big reason some of the girls ran the way they did. Dorius called the race “bitter-sweet” for Utah State, because even though the women ran the race so well, Idaho just ran it even better. She said being able to practice on the course really paid off, and she was able to beat her own personal record by 20 seconds at this race.
As for some other notable Aggie finishes, junior Caroline Berry finished 16th with a time of 17:39.28. Junior Allison Taylor placed 19th at 17:43.90. Sophomore Erin Stratton placed 22nd with a time of 17:52.73, and in 26th place was junior Vanessa Gledhill, with a time of 18:00.82. Coming in 36th was sophomore April Rowlan, with a time of 18:20.01, and in 42nd place was sophomore Alexis Meyer, coming in at 18:40.37.
The overall winner of the race was Breanna Sande of Boise State with a time of 17:01.32. She was also named Athlete of the Year for WAC women’s cross country. Placing in fourth place was Samantha Davis of Nevada, named WAC Freshman of the Year. Idaho’s coach Wayne Phipps was named the WAC Coach of the Year.
The next run for the Aggie cross country team will be at the NCAA Mountain Regionals in Ogden on Nov. 10.
-jake.ipson@aggiemail.usu.edu