November 11, 2008
For Immediate Release
For an Interview:
James Warnick
(801) 863-6899
UVU’s women’s team won the first-ever Great West Conference Championship Saturday and the men’s team came in second place. With the Wolverines stellar day Krystal Harper and Joshua McCabe who were UVU’s respective top-finishers won the GWC Newcomers of the Year. Coach Scott Houle was also named the women’s team Coach of the Year.
OREM, Utah - Utah Valley University’s women’s team walked away from Saturday morning’s Great West Conference Cross Country Championships crowned the first-ever GWC Champion with 42 team points and the men’s team finished second place overall with 51points at Lakeside Park in Orem.
I was definitely excited to have both our men and women finish one-two today,” UVU head cross country coach Scott Houle said. “It was a great season, overall this is our best year since I’ve been here. It’s nice to receive the women’s coach of the year award and I thank my fellow coaches and peers for voting me in. It is an award that recognizes the great job our entire coaching staff does.”
During the 6K women’s championship South Dakota’s Ramsey Fitzsimmons jumped out to an early led as she set the pace for the meet. UVU did a nice job to stay close together as a team for the majority of the race. Early on in the race the Wolverines were led by Aleina Eisenhauer, Krystal Harper, Kalina Zufelt, Angela Baker, and Stephanie Christensen.
USD’s Fitzsimmons finished out the race as the leader from start to finish as she crossed the finish line as the top-finisher overall, her running-mate Kelsey Maloney was her closest competitor as she finished second. UVU’s pack of runners came in strong, close together led by the freshman, Harper who placed sixth. Right behind her was Baker who placed seventh, Zufelt eighth, Christensen 10th, Mel Baird 11th, Eisenhauer 15th and Trisha Coombs 17th.
From the beginning of the men’s 8K championship race Utah Valley freshman Joshua McCabe and sophomore Jared Keller looked very strong. They paced themselves in the top-five for the majority of the meet. NJIT’s Umar Saeed took control of the race early but ended up finishing in third place overall. It was HBU’s Daniel Martinez as the race continued made his way to the front of the pack and was the top-finisher. UTPA’s Luis Nava finished in second place.
McCabe who placed fourth led the way for Utah Valley, Keller was right behind him finishing fifth. Clark Nielson was the next top-finisher for the Wolverines placing 12th, Danny Moody 13th, and Derick Moody 17th, and Darren Ott placed 19th.
Final team standings on the day for the women’s race Utah Valley 42, South Dakota 46, North Dakota 58, Texas-Pan American 96, Houston Baptist 139, and NJIT 166. UTPA finished first in the men’s race with 35 points, UVU 51, HBU 82, USD 91, NJIT 112, UND 136, and Chicago State 220.
GWC Cross Country Championship Awards:
Women's Awards:
2008 GWC Women's Champions: Utah Valley University
Women's Coach of the Year: Scott Houle UVU
Women's Newcomer of the Year: Krystal Harper UVU
Female Athlete of the Year: Ramsey Fitzsimmons USD
1st Team All-Conference: Ramsey Fitzsimmons USD, Kelsey Maloney USD, Carolina Izaguirre UTPA, Brittany Brenny UND, Mandy Gefroh UND, Krystal Harper UVU, and Angela Baker UVU.
2nd Team All-Conference: Kalina Zufelt UVU, Jessica Lundgren USD, Stephanie Christensen UVU, Mel Baird UVU, Emily Emerson UND, Heather Kuhlmann USD, and Sara Rodriguez UTPA.
Men’s Awards:
2008 GWC Men's team Champions: Texas-Pan American
Men's Coach of the Year: Dennis Darling UTPA
Male Newcomer of the Year: Joshua McCabe UVU
Male Athlete of the year: Daniel Martinez HBU
1st Team All-Conference: Daniel Martinez HBU, Luis Nava UTPA, Umar Saeed NJIT, Joshua McCabe UVU, Jared Keller UVU, Roberto Najera UTPA, and Rob Gregoire USD.
2nd Team All-Conference: Juan Joel Hernandez UTPA, Angel Ramirez UTPA, Osvaldo Gonzalez UTPA, Christian Baumbach NJIT, Clark Nielson UVU, Danny Moody UVU, and Johnathan LeJeune HBU.
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Written by:
James Warnick
(801) 863-6899