This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
No state will be better represented at the NCAA Division I Cross Country championships on Saturday in Kentucky than the state of Utah.
Utah has sent five teams to the men's and women's meets at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville: BYU's men and women, Utah's women, Weber State's women and Southern Utah's men.
The 34-team women's meet begins at 10 a.m. MST, while the 31-team men's meet begins at 11 a.m. MST.
Experts say BYU's No. 6-ranked men's team has the best chance to make some noise on a national level.
"We're excited about the national meet," said BYU coach Ed Eyestone. "This marks the 17th year in a row we've qualified our men's team, and I think they're ready to roll. They have a quiet confidence and determination about them, and hopefully we'll go there and run to the best of our ability."
BYU received at at-large bid after placing third at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships last Friday in New Mexico. Eyestone held some runners out at regionals who were slightly injured or ill and expects them to be ready for Saturday's run.
"You can't control how other teams perform," Eyestone said. "You can't really do anything to slow them down. You just have to run as fast as you can. … The bottom line is if we can score under 200 points then we will end up on the podium [top three]. But if we score over 200 points, probably not."
The seven BYU runners in uniform Saturday are expected to be Aaron Fletcher, Dallin Farnsworth, Connor McMillan, Dylan Shawhan, Nicolas Montanez, Dallin Taylor and Jonathan Harper. Montanez sat out last week to rest, Harper was sick and Taylor stepped on a rock and bruised his heel. Mitchell Briggs traveled as an alternate.
BYU's No. 24-ranked women's team also received an at-large bid after placing fourth at last week's regionals in New Mexico.
"Qualifying for nationals was a major team goal this season," said coach Patrick Shane. "We're excited to go and compete at the national level. I've said all along this is a great cross country team. They've earned this."
The Cougars are led by Natalie Shields-Connolly, Carrie Jube, Jennica Redd and Yesenia Silva.
Alyssa Steed, Ashleigh Warner and Alice Jensen will also run in Kentucky.
Utah's women placed third in New Mexico and garnered a No. 21 ranking heading into nationals.
Weber State, ranked No. 25, also earned an at-large bid and will be competing at the NCAA Championships for the sixth time and the third time in the last five years. The Wildcats placed 17th at nationals in 2012.
"This team deserves to be in the national meet and they have earned it all year," said WSU coach Paul Pilkington. "It's a great accomplishment for our program."
Weber State is led by Ellie Child (sixth overall at regionals), Hailey Whetten and Jamie Stokes.
Southern Utah's men's teams enters nationals ranked No. 24 in the country after finishing fourth at regionals. The T-birds are the only Big Sky Conference men's team to qualify for nationals and are led by Hayden Hawks, Mike Tate, Matt Wright, Josh Collins and Ibrahim Ahmed.
"Each year we've been closing in and closing in, and we thought we had a really good shot this year and obviously it materialized," said SUU coach Eric Houle.
Twitter: @drewjay —
NCAA Cross Country Championships
When: Saturday, 10 a.m. MST (women) and 11 a.m. MST (men)
Where: E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park, Louisville, Ky.
Utah teams participating: No. 3 BYU men, No. 24 BYU women, No. 21 Utah women, No. 25 Weber State women, No. 24 Southern Utah men