MW XC Championship

USUMAE · Post by **USUMAE** » March 5th, 2021, 1:21 pm

Today was the mountain west cross country championship.

Caleb Garnica was our top aggie and mw champion. The men were second with a score of 33 to AFA's 29. I'm sure it was an incredible race for the Aggies and falcons as both schools took 9 of the top 10 places.

On the women's side our top finisher was Katie Strutters with an 8th place finish.

Next up is the national championship on March 15th. Caleb has definitely qualified. Due to the pandemic and no regional meets, there will be no auto bids. All selections will be done via at large.

Last I checked the men's team was ranked #19. Based on their performance today I believe they'll get an invite.

I believe SUU, who beat the #2 team nau for their conference championship, BYU, who is the defending national champion, will get invited as well. AFA will also get a bid.

I don't think the women's team will get an at large bid.

LKGates · Post by **LKGates** » March 5th, 2021, 2:02 pm

This is great. Good athletic departments succeed in football and/or men's basketball. Great athletic departments have success in the non-revenue sports as well.

QuackAttackAggie · Post by **QuackAttackAggie** » March 5th, 2021, 2:04 pm

There is video. It was a close race

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

USUMAE · Post by **USUMAE** » March 5th, 2021, 2:56 pm

That was incredible. I'll have to find the whole race after work.

You can tell that AFA runner left it all on the line. I think his legs were giving out at the end and you could tell he was running scared, running not to lose (the backwards glance at 11 seconds is often a giveaway that you've got someone on the ropes)

Kudos to caleb for the guts and the tenacity to win!

Post by **AGinNEIowa** » March 5th, 2021, 3:57 pm

so awesome! I never knew XC was fun to watch until I had a kid join.

stang · Post by **stang** » March 6th, 2021, 1:18 am

This is excellent, love it!

Unfortunately, many of USU's teams right now (WBB, soccer, volleyball) are the laughing stock of the conference, so it's good to see the XC team have success! They were very close to making it back-to-back titles even after losing their top five runners from last year. Can't wait to see what they do at nationals.

NowhereLandAggie · Post by **NowhereLandAggie** » March 7th, 2021, 4:03 pm

AGinNEIowa wrote: ↑
March 5th, 2021, 3:57 pm
so awesome! I never knew XC was fun to watch until I had a kid join.

I ran XC in high school, I have 2 daughters that do the same. 1 is in Jr. High and HS coaches keep asking her to commit to doing it in HS. She shows a fair amount of promise, but she wants to maybe try tennis.

I hope she sticks with it. Meets are fun when you move from spot to spot. It is the ultimate individual sport with little to rely on the referee's making calls to determine the outcome.

Post by **AGinNEIowa** » March 7th, 2021, 7:01 pm

NowhereLandAggie wrote: ↑
March 7th, 2021, 4:03 pm

AGinNEIowa wrote: ↑
March 5th, 2021, 3:57 pm
so awesome! I never knew XC was fun to watch until I had a kid join.
I ran XC in high school, I have 2 daughters that do the same. 1 is in Jr. High and HS coaches keep asking her to commit to doing it in HS. She shows a fair amount of promise, but she wants to maybe try tennis.

I hope she sticks with it. Meets are fun when you move from spot to spot. It is the ultimate individual sport with little to rely on the referee's making calls to determine the outcome.

the best was the community - my sons were not great runners, and usually at the end of the race - but there were always fans of all schools cheering them on as they lumbered to the finish.

USUMAE · Post by **USUMAE** » March 7th, 2021, 7:50 pm

AGinNEIowa wrote: ↑
March 7th, 2021, 7:01 pm

NowhereLandAggie wrote: ↑
March 7th, 2021, 4:03 pm

AGinNEIowa wrote: ↑
March 5th, 2021, 3:57 pm
so awesome! I never knew XC was fun to watch until I had a kid join.
I ran XC in high school, I have 2 daughters that do the same. 1 is in Jr. High and HS coaches keep asking her to commit to doing it in HS. She shows a fair amount of promise, but she wants to maybe try tennis.

I hope she sticks with it. Meets are fun when you move from spot to spot. It is the ultimate individual sport with little to rely on the referee's making calls to determine the outcome.
the best was the community - my sons were not great runners, and usually at the end of the race - but there were always fans of all schools cheering them on as they lumbered to the finish.

Amen on the community!

USUMAE · Post by **USUMAE** » March 7th, 2021, 7:51 pm

The men's team qualified and Katie Havilland qualified for Nationals next week!

NowhereLandAggie · Post by **NowhereLandAggie** » March 7th, 2021, 9:09 pm

AGinNEIowa wrote: ↑
March 7th, 2021, 7:01 pm

NowhereLandAggie wrote: ↑
March 7th, 2021, 4:03 pm

AGinNEIowa wrote: ↑
March 5th, 2021, 3:57 pm
so awesome! I never knew XC was fun to watch until I had a kid join.
I ran XC in high school, I have 2 daughters that do the same. 1 is in Jr. High and HS coaches keep asking her to commit to doing it in HS. She shows a fair amount of promise, but she wants to maybe try tennis.

I hope she sticks with it. Meets are fun when you move from spot to spot. It is the ultimate individual sport with little to rely on the referee's making calls to determine the outcome.
the best was the community - my sons were not great runners, and usually at the end of the race - but there were always fans of all schools cheering them on as they lumbered to the finish.

If you watch the Twitter video, the two top runners went and shook hands right after they finished the race. Usually I notice that with runners, if someone beat me, they did it honestly and I couldn't help but respect they had that little extra to do it.

Didn't mean you weren't competitive, just that you could respect anyone willing that would push themselves through those types of races, first or last.

SLB · Post by **SLB** » March 10th, 2021, 10:35 pm

My dad was a long-distance runner that ran back in the 70s and the times that he talks that he had about are at the level of the top MWC runners (he decided to be a walk-on at Oregon State (at the time top 10 in nation) instead of accepting a scholly at Fresno State).
It is great that we have such a great runner, and NAU have the ultimate advantage of having the legal version of blood doping.

USUMAE · Post by **USUMAE** » March 15th, 2021, 12:57 pm

Today was the championship. Caleb Garnica was our top runner. He ran the 10k course in 30:31.2, good for 28th place. The men's team was 11th.

Other teams of interest, (from Utah or the mountain west)

BYU underperformed, they got 7th.
SUU placed 9th.
AFA placed 19th.

On the women's side Katie Struthers placed 43rd.

Teams of interest:
BYU got first, New Mexico got 6th, Boise got 9th, Colorado State got 23rd.

tipitup · Post by **tipitup** » March 15th, 2021, 2:01 pm

conner Mantz a local kid prepped at sky view took 1st in the meet!! he is crazy watching, and always has been.

TrueAggieman · Post by **TrueAggieman** » March 15th, 2021, 3:37 pm

11th in the nation is amazing. When was the last time we had a team finish that high in any sport??

USUMAE · Post by **USUMAE** » March 15th, 2021, 3:52 pm

TrueAggieman wrote: ↑
March 15th, 2021, 3:37 pm
11th in the nation is amazing. When was the last time we had a team finish that high in any sport??

Didn't tennis win it all a few years back?

Edit:
Looked it up. I was wrong.
Seems like gymnastics had some high rankings as well.

Also, I agree with you. 11th is incredible!

USUMAE · Post by **USUMAE** » March 15th, 2021, 4:03 pm

While bragging about our harriers, Camren Todd, a sophomore studying engineering, earned the Elite 90 award, which recognizes the athletes who compete at the highest level while having the highest gpa.

stang · Post by **stang** » March 15th, 2021, 8:08 pm

USUMAE wrote:
TrueAggieman wrote: ↑
March 15th, 2021, 3:37 pm
11th in the nation is amazing. When was the last time we had a team finish that high in any sport??
Didn't tennis win it all a few years back?

Edit:
Looked it up. I was wrong.
Seems like gymnastics had some high rankings as well.

Also, I agree with you. 11th is incredible!

11th is very, very good. Best finish in program history. Most of their team is young as well, they should be even better next season.

Not the diminish the accomplishments of gymnastics, but there are only 60-ish teams that compete, many of whom aren’t even DI. So ranking around 20th is good, but it’s not all that big of a deal. In Cross Country there are around 320 DI programs, so finishing 11th is phenomenal.

NowhereLandAggie · Post by **NowhereLandAggie** » March 17th, 2021, 5:29 pm

stang wrote: ↑
March 15th, 2021, 8:08 pm

USUMAE wrote:
TrueAggieman wrote: ↑
March 15th, 2021, 3:37 pm
11th in the nation is amazing. When was the last time we had a team finish that high in any sport??
Didn't tennis win it all a few years back?

Edit:
Looked it up. I was wrong.
Seems like gymnastics had some high rankings as well.

Also, I agree with you. 11th is incredible!
11th is very, very good. Best finish in program history. Most of their team is young as well, they should be even better next season.

Not the diminish the accomplishments of gymnastics, but there are only 60-ish teams that compete, many of whom aren’t even DI. So ranking around 20th is good, but it’s not all that big of a deal. In Cross Country there are around 320 DI programs, so finishing 11th is phenomenal.

Kudos to SUU for finishing 9th. A small school like that having that kind of success. Good for them.

USUMAE · Post by **USUMAE** » March 18th, 2021, 8:56 am

NowhereLandAggie wrote: ↑
March 17th, 2021, 5:29 pm

stang wrote: ↑
March 15th, 2021, 8:08 pm

USUMAE wrote:
TrueAggieman wrote: ↑
March 15th, 2021, 3:37 pm
11th in the nation is amazing. When was the last time we had a team finish that high in any sport??
Didn't tennis win it all a few years back?

Edit:
Looked it up. I was wrong.
Seems like gymnastics had some high rankings as well.

Also, I agree with you. 11th is incredible!
11th is very, very good. Best finish in program history. Most of their team is young as well, they should be even better next season.

Not the diminish the accomplishments of gymnastics, but there are only 60-ish teams that compete, many of whom aren’t even DI. So ranking around 20th is good, but it’s not all that big of a deal. In Cross Country there are around 320 DI programs, so finishing 11th is phenomenal.
Kudos to SUU for finishing 9th. A small school like that having that kind of success. Good for them.

I've been following SUU XC and track for about decade now. Coach Houle has done a tremendous job there.

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