UVU men’s cross country claims WAC title, women finish as runner-up

It was a day of championships and awards for Utah Valley University Saturday, Nov. 2. The UVU men’s cross-country team won the WAC championship for the second-consecutive year with a score of 44 points. The women ran hard as well, finishing second in the WAC, only behind California Baptist University.

The victory for the men looks to be the beginning of a dynasty for the team. Senior Kevin Lynch claimed the individual title with a time of 24 minutes and 44 seconds for the eight km race. This means that on Saturday, Lynch ran roughly five miles under a five minute mile pace. The victory was Lynch’s second-consecutive individual WAC championship. 

UVU had two other men place in the top-10. Sophomore Hawk Call and junior Geofrey Kemboi came in eighth and ninth place respectively. Sophomores Britain Reynolds and Jorge Gonzalez-Perez, and freshman Daniel Bausch placed within the top-20. This secured the Wolverines win over CBU, who finished with 47 points.

On the women’s side, CBU scored perfectly at the meet with 15 points. For the Wolverines, senior Savannah Neuberger and Sophomore Maggie Zwahlen ran together and both finished in the top-10. Neuberger finished with a time of 21 minutes and 39 seconds for the six km race, which converts to around a five minute and 30 second pace per mile.

UVU head coach Scott Houle joined in on the award train as well. Houle received WAC Men’s Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his career.

The season continues for UVU on Friday, Nov. 15th. The team will compete at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championship, where they will hope to qualify for the NCAA Cross-Country Championship.