CEDAR CITY, Utah - Oct. 5 - Southern Utah Cross Country settled in for a weekend at home with the annual Color Country Invitational. With the top five men and women resting up for Pre-Nationals, the second teams finished second on the men's side and third on the women's side. Utah Valley took the victory in both races, while Idaho State's men placed second.
"This meet gave us the opportunity to get some of the athletes that don't usually travel out there racing," head coach Eric Houle. "We don't normally sit our top-five, but if we feel we have a shot at the national level then we will. All in all, it was great to give everyone a chance to get out there and compete."
ISU's Bryce Jenkins won the men's 6k with a 18:44.6 finish, with Ibrahim Ahmed, an unattached athlete from Southern Utah finishing second in 18:58.50. Elijah Rono was the first Southern Utah runner to score, coming in third with a time of 18:58.40. Jon Lee and Clinton Rhoton finished next for the T-Birds, placing seventh and 10th with respective times of 19:11.7 and 19:15.6. Freshman Tyson Boyer (19:44.1) and Josh Gardner (19:49.2) wrapped up SUU's score with finishes in 18th and 20th place.
Utah Valley finished first overall with a score of 38, followed by Southern Utah (46), Idaho State (55) and Dixie State (90).
Dixie State runner Rachel Young took the individual victory on the women's side, recording a 4k time of 14:09.5. Dayna VanArsdol finished first for Southern Utah, coming in ninth with a time of 14:40.6, followed by Kaylee Coates (14:47.6) in 11th and Whitney Curtis (14:48.1) in 13th. Lakyn Lux and Kaylee Boyer rounded out the women's score with 19th- and 22nd-place times of 15:11.2 and 15:16.6 respectively.
The combined efforts of SUU's women resulted in a score of 68, placing the squad third behind Utah Valley (30) and Idaho State (46). Dixie State (92) and Utah State (135) finished fourth and fifth at the invite.
"To have a meet at home and give everyone an opportunity to race is really important," Houle said. "We're going to risk a victory now and then but we can't worry about winning so much that we eliminate opportunities for our athletes to rise up."
Southern Utah will now see the top fives back in action next weekend as the squads travel to Louisville, Ky., for the NCAA Pre-Nationals on Oct. 13.
