This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah high school cross country teams and runners fared well in two major national meets as well as national cross country team rankings this year.
American Fork junior Casey Clinger turned in perhaps the most impressive individual performance when he won the 2015 Nike Cross Country Nationals recently at Portland, Ore.
Ogden's Alek Parsons finished right behind in third place in that race.
Last Saturday, East's Garek Bielaczyc finished fourth in the Foot Locker Nationals at Balboa Park in San Diego. Lehi's Connor Arnell finished 34th in that race while Ogden's Talon Hull finished 37th.
"I was really happy with it," said Bielaczkyc about his last cross country run as a prep. "I was about 15 seconds back. It was one of my strongest performances of the season. I felt like I had a positive, mental attitude competing against some of the best runners in the nation."
Weber sophomore McKenna Lee turned in the best time of the Utah girl runners in the Foot Locker Nationals, finishing 17th after taking ninth in regionals.
"I was happy with it," she said. "I finished ninth in regionals, which was way ahead of what I expected. I just missed all-American. I started out in last and made my way up. If I learned anything, it was that you can have a bad start and still make up ground."
Olympus' Olivia Hoj, a BYU commit, finished 24th while Provo junior Kate Hunter took 31st.
Several Utah teams also earned national rankings in the Dyestat season-ending top 20 list.
American Fork finished second, Timpanogos fifth, Lone Peak 11th, Ogden 19th and Desert Hills 20th in the boys rankings. The American Fork girls' team finished sixth.
— Tom Wharton