SALT LAKE CITY- With the departure of All-American cross country runner Grayson Murphy, head coach Kyle Kepler and the team knew that it was time for someone else to step up. With many new faces and the return of runners from last year, the Utah women's cross country team began the season strong with a second place finish at the Sagebrush Invitational in Logan, Utah. Junior Sarah Feeny, in her first race back since returning from a two-year LDS mission, finished first overall earning the meet title. 
 
In Utah's second meet of the season, they traveled to Twin Falls, Idaho, to compete at the CSI Invitational where three freshmen would lead the Utes to capturing their first and only team title of the season. Freshman Scarlet Dale led Utah finishing in second place while freshman Sophie Ryan and redshirt freshman Cara Woolnough finished in fourth and fifth, respectively. 
 
The Utes had their best race of the season in Boston where they competed at the Battle in Beantown. Utah was led yet again by Dale as she paced the Utes to a third-place finish. Utah finished ahead of four different ranked teams in the field including 24th ranked Minnesota (4th), 27th ranked Dartmouth (5th), 22nd ranked Syracuse (9th), and 11th ranked Providence (11th). Dale finished in 14th overall. 
 
After coming off a third-place finish in Boston, the Utes entered the USTFCCCA National Rankings for the first time since Oct. 17, 2017, coming in ranked No. 24 in the nation. With the next week off, the Utes would slip down the rankings to No. 27 and eventually out of the rankings for the rest of the season. 
 
Utah hosted its only home meet, the Utah Open, for the first time since 2015. The meet consisted of local teams such as BYU, Utah State, and Westminster. Utah earned a third-place finish while BYU captured the team title and Utah State came in second. Redshirt sophomore Emma Christensen led the Utes finishing in 11th overall. Running unattached and taking home the meet title was sophomore Bella Williams who won in dominating fashion. 
 
Moving into championship season, Utah earned a seventh-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships in Palo Alto, Calif. Feeny paced the Utes finishing in 21st place overall while six other Utes recorded new career bests. Oregon captured the team title knocking off previous conference champion Colorado who had won the championship the previous three years. Utah wrapped up the 2018 season with an 11th place finish at the NCAA Mountain Regional. Feeny led the Utes finishing in 25th place and earned All-Region honors. 
 
"I am really proud of this group. They came together and it's challenging as you start to cut down the numbers of runners that you can run at each race. It's certainly hard for the runners who have been racing and competing for spots and no longer have a place to race," head coach Kyle Kepler said. "But those kids were terrific teammates. They still trained hard, still did a great job and we have got to have that in our program.  If we are going to be one of the best programs in the country you've got to have great depth and have kids step up and be ready to go when their number is called. I think we did that all year long and I think it is going to pay big dividends next year." 
 
Fans can follow the Utah cross country program on Twitter (@Utah_trackfield), Facebook (UtahTrackXC) and on Instagram (@UtahTrackXC).
 
Click below to listen to head coach Kyle Kepler in his weekly podcast. This week coach Kepler gives a recap of the NCAA Mountain Regional as well as a recap of the 2018 cross country season.