23 Utah runners to NCAAs

PROVO — The state of Utah will be represented by 23 runners at next week's NCAA Cross Country Championships, a selection committee announced Sunday.

By virtue of their second-place finish at Saturday's Mountain Regional meet, seven runners from BYU earned an automatic berth in the championship meet.

Josh Rohatinsky led the BYU men, finishing first overall. Four other Cougars finished in the top 21 spots, joining Rohatinsky on the All-Region team.

The BYU women, who finished third, and the Weber State women, who finished fifth, will also get to take seven runners each after the NCAA extended them at-large invitations on Sunday.

Kassi Andersen led BYU at the Mountain Regional with a third-place finish overall. The Cougars finished third despite losing their No. 3 runner, sophomore Amy Fowler, to a foot injury midway through the race.

Senior Lindsey Anderson was the difference again for the Wildcats, finishing fourth overall. Weber State ran one of the tightest packs in the race, as all five scoring runners finished within 50 seconds of each other.

The Wildcats' invitation was a welcome surprise, as teams generally must finish in the top four in regional competition in order to be considered for an at-large berth. Their cause was aided, however, by a No. 30 national ranking and big performance at the Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational earlier this year.

At that meet, the Wildcats bested Florida and Georgia, both of which earned automatic qualifications, as well as North Carolina, which was an at-large qualifier.

The Weber State men were less fortunate, finishing a disappointing seventh at the Mountain Regional and missing out on an NCAA team invite. Team leader Seth Pilkington, however, earned an individual invitation to run in the championship meet after his sixth-place finish at the regional meet.

The Southern Utah men surprised the field at the regional meet with a fourth-place finish, but it was not enough to earn them a team invitation.

Jess Baumgartner's seventh-place finish, however, earned him an individual spot in the NCAA meet as well.

Runners now have a week to recuperate and prepare for the NCAA Championships, which will be held Nov. 20 at host university Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind.

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E-mail: jtwitchell@desnews.com