The Utah Valley University women’s cross-country team won the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday morning at the UCR Agricultural Operations Course in Riverside with 95 points, while the men’s team posted a sixth-place finish with 173.
Junior Darian Sharp led the way for the second consecutive meet for the Wolverine women by placing 12th overall in the 6K race with a time of 21:27.70. Freshman McKayla Morgan was right behind her as she crossed the finish line in 14th with a time of 21:31.80, while fellow freshman Makayla Stepp also posted a top-20 finish by taking 19th (21:45.30).
Junior McKenzie Snyder was UVU’s fourth finisher, as she took 23rd with a time of 21:50.50, while senior Ivie Gonsalves finished five seconds back of Snyder to take 27th overall (21:55.10).
Freshman Savannah Berry also ran well for the UVU women on Saturday morning as she placed 28th (21:55.50), and sophomore Caity Beddes rounded out the Wolverines’ top seven by taking 59th (22:32.70).
To win the 34th annual UC Riverside Women’s Invitational, the Wolverine women finished ahead of UC Santa Barbara (second, 113 points), host UCR (third, 129), San Diego State (fourth, 135), UC San Diego (fifth, 145), in-state foe Southern Utah (sixth, 187), Cal Baptist (seventh, 192), San Diego (eighth, 204), Cal State Northridge (13th, 324), Long Beach State (16th, 419), Hawai’i (23rd, 653) and 12 other teams.
“I’m extremely proud of our team on the way they competed and represented themselves and UVU,” head coach Scott Houle said. “I look forward to the continuing of the season and building on this weekend to see how good we can get."
The Wolverine men finished their 8K race in sixth place as they finished behind Minnesota (first, 43 points), SUU (second, 48), UCSB (third, 97), UCR (fourth, 149) and UCSD (fifth, 155). UVU did however finish ahead of Long Beach State (ninth, 252), San Diego (16th, 449), Cal State Northridge (20th, 617) and 20 other squads.
Redshirt freshman Tyson Lambert paced the UVU men with a 23rd-place finish (24:52.30), while junior Trac Norris took 28th with a time of 24:55.10. Juniors Chris Brower and Seth Gutzwiller were next as they placed 39th and 43rd, respectively, with times of 25:09.50 and 25:16.10, while sophomore Logan Petty rounded out UVU’s top five by taking 51st (25:25.80).
Sophomore Rush Mills too performed well on Saturday by taking 55th (25:30.50), while fellow sophomore Brenden Emery rounded out UVU’s top seven with an 87th-place finish (26:01.50).
The meet also featured men’s and women’s open collegiate races on Saturday, and freshman Travis Taylor led the UVU men by taking 28th in the 8K with a time of 27:05.40, while fellow freshman Kami Harley paced the women with a 41st-place finish in the women’s 5K (19:20.40).
The Wolverines return to action next weekend when they head to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the UNLV Invitational on Sept. 20.
James Warnick is an assistant sports information director at Utah Valley University. For more information about Wolverine athletics, visit WolverineGreen.com.