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LOGAN, Utah – Utah State's men's and women's cross country teams are set to host the Mountain West Championships on Friday morning at the Steve and Dona Reeder Cross Country Course, located at 1165 East 1400 North in Logan.
The men's 8-kilometer race is slated to begin at 10 a.m., while the women's 6-kilometer race will begin at 10:45 a.m. Last season at the conference meet in San Diego, Calif., the Aggie women placed fourth as a team with 126 points, while the men finished fifth with 120 points.
Third-year Utah State head coach
Artie Gulden knows there are advantages to hosting conference championships.
"The three main advantages that I've been thinking about are, one, the familiarity with the course. We work out on it every week, and I'm sure our kids know it like the back of their hand," Gulden said. "Beyond that, you don't have to travel. The last two meets we've had, we had to go to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and traveling is tiring. Third, just having the rest of the team around is huge. Having family and friends here, I imagine we'll have a lot more people at the course cheering us on than any of the other schools, so hopefully that will help us out quite a bit."
The Aggies had a pair of athletes earn all-conference honors at last year's championships as All-American
Alyssa Snyder earned second-team all-MW honors after placing 13th in the women's 6-kilometer race with a time of 21:14.1. Current USU senior
Luke Beattie also earned second-team all-MW honors, placing 14th in the 8-kilometer race with a time of 25:07.2.
Utah State's men's team, currently ranked No. 22 in the nation, will face a good test as it will race against the No. 18 Boise State Broncos, as well as an Air Force squad that is receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA poll. In the MW Pre-Championship Coaches' Poll, released on Wednesday, the Aggies received 57 points and four first-place votes to come in narrowly behind Boise State, which had 61 points and the remaining five first-place votes.
"To keep things rolling this season and potentially capture a Mountain West title, we just need to execute the race plan that the coaches give us, race as a team, respond to moves, and just be smart throughout the 8k," said Beattie, who has been the top Aggie finisher in two meets this season.
The Aggie women will also face a tough test as they go up against three nationally-ranked programs, as No. 11 New Mexico, No. 13 Boise State and No. 14 Air Force will all be competing. Behind those three teams, Utah State was picked fourth in the MW Pre-Championship Coaches' Poll, receiving 71 points.
"I've been training on this course for four years now, we hosted regionals here my freshman and sophomore year, so we train on this course a lot," said senior
Josie Givens. "I'm really excited to show them what I've got."
Aside from being picked as the top team in the conference this season, the New Mexico women have won the conference championship the past 11 seasons. The Lobos also return last year's women's individual champion, junior Weini Kelati.
On the men's side, there have been four different champions the past five years, as Boise State captured the title last season.
Fans can find links to a live stream and results on UtahStateAggies.com or at the Mountain West's championship central page. Friday's meet is free to attend.
Fans can follow the Utah State track & field and cross country programs at twitter.com/USUTF_XC, on Facebook at USUTrack and on Instagram at instagram.com/USUTF_XC. Aggies fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on Facebook at Utah State University Athletics.
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