"This is like a bow on top of our season. I'm excited for her (Alyssa). She has a lot of career left here and hopefully get back here again next year," said Kepler. "I also have to give a special thanks to Shayla Houlihan. She gave Alyssa great outlook and kept her calm and just took care of her over the weekend. This is also a tribute to everyone involved in the program. We'll be able to look back and always know this year was special."

Weber State's Natalie Haws (Kaysville) placed 137th with a time of 21:29.0. She was the 14th best freshman in the field as well.

"Natalie ran a solid, but not great race," said her coach, Paul Pilkington. "When she ran on this course in the pre-national meet back in early October, she went out too fast. This time she was a little conservative at the beginning of the race and was playing catch up the last 10 minutes or so. Still, she had a pretty good year for a freshman and I have no doubt she will be back here in the year's to follow."

Nationally, Oregon's Galen Rupp overtook Liberty's Sam Chelanga to win the men's NCAA cross-country title, and the Ducks grabbed their second consecutive championship on Monday.

Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech won her third straight women's title, and top-ranked Washington captured the women's championship.