Utah State captures first individual and team crowns in program history, with New Mexico extending nation’s longest active women’s conference championship run to 12 in a row as Kelati secures back-to-back titles

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

When it comes to individual and team championship success in the same year in the Mountain West Conference, no cross country programs have excelled at achieving the dominant double better in the past two decades than New Mexico and Brigham Young.

But no team likely appreciated the significance of the sweep more than Utah State did Friday at the Steve and Dona Reeder Cross Country Course in Logan, Utah.

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For the first time in program history, the Aggies crowned both individual and team champions, following the New Mexico women in 2017 and Boise State men in 2016 in pulling off the sweep at home. BYU also achieved the men’s and women’s championship doubles at home in 1999 and 2002.

And it was BYU transfer Dallin Farnsworth, a fifth-year senior, who not only secured the individual victory for Utah State, but eclipsed the all-time conference 8-kilometer championship record by clocking 23 minutes, 12.2 seconds. New Mexico’s Jacob Kirwa held the previous mark of 23:34.5 from 1999 in Orem, Utah.

The Aggies placed five scorers in the top 16 to prevail by a 42-74 margin over 2017 winner Colorado State. Wyoming was third with 75 points and Boise State, winner of two of the past three team championships, took fourth with 88 points.

Not to be outdone, New Mexico relied for the third straight year on the tandem of Weini Kelati and Ednah Kurgat taking the top two spots, helping the Lobos place five scorers in the top 13 to earn a 31-54 victory over Air Force, with Boise State placing third with 63 points.

The Lobos extended their conference winning streak to 12 consecutive years, the longest active women’s cross country championship run in the country. Only the men’s teams from Iona (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, 29), William and Mary (Colonial Athletic Association, 20) and Eastern Kentucky (Ohio Valley Conference, 14) have longer active runs nationally than New Mexico.

Kelati joined Farnsworth in smashing the conference championship 6-kilometer record, running 19:11.2 to prevail by 49 seconds over Kurgat. Boise State’s Emma Bates held the previous mark of 19:37.3 from 2014 in Fresno.

Kelati also became the first female athlete to repeat as champion since Bates in 2013-14. It marked the fourth year in a row New Mexico swept the individual and team titles, including Alice Wright in 2016 and Kurgat in 2017.

Kelati and Kurgat were supported by Hannah Nuttall (20:14.4) placing fifth, Gracelyn Larkin (20:32.6) taking 10th and Alexandra Harris (20:40.7) finishing 13th. The Lobos also had Brenda Rosales-Coria (21:08) and Juanita Johnson (21:08.2) secure 24th and 25th place.

Boise State, which trailed New Mexico by only three points at the halfway mark, couldn’t keep pace late in the race and had only Yukino Parle (20:22.7) finish in the top 10, with her seventh-place effort leading seven Broncos in the top 20.

Air Force, which remained within striking distance of New Mexico through 4 kilometers, had Maria Mettler (20:13.1) finish third, Mahala Norris (20:13.3) place fourth and Lindsey Blanks (20:30.2) secure ninth as part of four scorers in the top 12. But the Falcons’ fifth runner finished 26th.

Colorado State’s Lily Tomasula-Martin (20:17.6) was sixth and San Jose State’s Jenny Sandoval (20:29.2) placed eighth overall.

Colorado State’s Forrest Barton edged Wyoming’s Harry Ewing by a 23:22.1 to 23:22.6 margin for second, with Air Force’s Will Kitzhaber (23:22.8) finishing fourth.

Utah State supported Farnsworth with Luke Beattie (23:23.8) taking fifth, James Withers (23:24.9) placing sixth, Caleb Garnica (23:40.7) securing 14th and JD Thorne (23:43.2) earning 16th. Haydon Cooper (23:49.7) and Roberto Porras (23:53.9) finished 21st and 23rd for the Aggies.

Boise State’s Miler Haller (23:25) and Ahmed Muhumed (23:26.4) were seventh and eighth, with Wyoming’s Christopher Henry (23:26.5) and Paul Roberts (23:30.2), last year’s champion, finishing ninth and 10th overall.