Women of Utah Posts Best Finish at NCAA Championships

STILLWATER, Okla. – The historic season for the Utah cross country team closed with the program’s best finish ever at NCAA Championships after taking 12th on Saturday at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course behind another solid performance from senior Emily Venters.
 
“Our women ran well and earned the best NCAA Championship finish in program history today,” head coach Kyle Kepler said postrace. “As she has all year Emily led with an All-American finish. Simone was terrific and just missed All-America status by 2 seconds. Keelah was very tough for us today.  Ariel was 16 places better than a year ago. Erin was outstanding for a freshman. Morgan and Lauren went for it and had solid days providing us good depth. Our 1-5 spread was 55 seconds, which was one our better spreads this year. I’m so proud of this group for their perseverance and pride in continuing to move this program forward.”
 
The 12th-place finish surpassed the previous program best of 16th-place set by the 2019 squad at the LaVern Gibson Championships Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind.
 
Venters wrapped up her collegiate cross country career with a 12th-place finish to earn her second-career All-America honor with a time of 19:54.1 – which was good for second-best at Utah in the NCAA Championships. The Lawrence, Kan., native becomes the ninth overall All-American at Utah in cross country and fourth under the direction of Kepler.
 
Additionally, Venters and the other top-19 finishers all broke the course record (20:01.1) on Saturday – which was set back in the spring of 2020.
 
Simone Plourde was Utah’s second finisher to cross the line, posting a time of 20:15.7 for 45th overall. Keelah Barger was the next Ute to finish, checking in with a mark of 20:30.3 (80th) for her best finish and time at the NCAA Championships.
 
Ariel Keklak returned to the line-up for Utah just in time to contribute as a scorer for the Women of Utah after missing the NCAA Regionals and finished at 20:37.8 for 102nd overall. Keklak’s mark of 20:37.8 – which was just shy of her finish last year at the championships (118th, 20:37.0)
 
Freshman Erin Vringer rounded out the group of scorers for Utah and did so in strong fashion in the final 2k, passing of 68 runners during that span to cross the finish line at 20:49.2 (133rd).
 
Morgan Jensen…