Junior McKayla Morgan and senior Jason Lynch each placed inside the top five for the Utah Valley men's and women's cross-country teams Saturday at the Color Country Invitational hosted by Southern Utah University on the Cedar Ridge Golf Course.
"McKayla Morgan and Jason [Lynch] both ran really well," head coach Scott Houle said. "But this was one of those meets where some of the kids did well and some kids struggled a little bit. You can definitely tell it's that time of season where they need to get some rest and get ready for conference."
Morgan paced the Wolverines with a time of 14:25.60, which topped her previous personal best on the course by 48 seconds, to give her second overall among 46 runners. Morgan clocked UVU's top time for the first time in a meet this season and led a group of three Wolverine women runners to place inside the top 10.
Lynch set a UVU record on the course in the men's 6K race, running an 18:22.7 to place fifth and top the previous team-best (19:20.9) on the Cedar Ridge course set in last year's meet by Logan Petty, who is redshirting in 2016. He tabbed the Wolverines' best time for the second-straight meet and placed inside the top 10 for the fourth meet in a row.
Joining Morgan inside the top 10 for Utah Valley in the women's race were her junior teammates Shevaun Ames (14:43.5) and Savannah Berry (14:45.4), who placed eighth and ninth, respectively.
Utah Valley's men also saw Tyson Lambert land inside the top 10 for the fourth-straight meet, as he placed ninth with a time of 18:49.60.
In the women's race, the Wolverines finished second with 42 points, just eight points behind the meet's winner and host Thunderbirds (34 points). Idaho State's women placed third (59 points) and Dixie State (104) was fourth.
The UVU men's team tallied 69 points to finish third, ahead of fourth-place Dixie State (96 points). SUU's men completed the sweep for the Thunderbirds with 17 points, which was 46 points ahead of second-place Idaho State (63 points).
"Overall, it was a pretty tough weekend for us. We're looking forward to getting back home now and resting up a little bit before we get out to Indiana next week for pre-nationals," Houle said.
The Wolverines next head to Terre Haute, Indiana, to compete in the Indiana State Pre-National Invitational for one more tune-up race before the 2016 WAC Championships.