State colleges: Weber women, BYU, UVU men win cross-country titles

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Bozeman, Mont. • Led by freshman Summer Harper, the Weber State women's cross country team won its third straight Big Sky Conference championship Saturday.

Harper, an Orem High grad, won the individual conference title, covering the 3 miles in a time of 16:54.2.

Defending conference champion Amber Henry, who had been out with a foot injury, competed Saturday for the first time all season and finished 10th in 17:24.8.

In addition to Harper and Henry, the Wildcats had two other all-conference performers on the women's side: sophomore Jamie Stokes, who was sixth with a time of 17:15.4; and freshman Hailey Ricks, who finished eighth in 17:16.4.

The men's team finished fourth; second-ranked Northern Arizona won.

Two Weber State men made all-conference: Thomas Worob ran his best race as a Wildcat, finishing eighth in the 5-mile contest with a time of 24:59.4; Trevor Ricks was 10th in 25:00.8.

The Wildcats will host the NCAA Mountain Regional on Nov. 15, when runners from Weber State, Utah Valley, Utah and BYU will try to qualify for the national meet Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind.

WAC • In its first year in the Western Athletic Conference, the Utah Valley University men's cross-country team won the league title Saturday in Seattle.

The Wolverine women finished fifth as Idaho won its fourth straight WAC crown.

Chris Brower finished fourth, running the 8K race in 25:37.9, Jason Lynch came in fifth (25:40.1), Josh Monsen was seventh (25:42.2) and Seth Gutzwiller was ninth (25:53.9).

Brower, Lynch and Monsen were named to the all-conference first team.

On the women's side, Darian Sharp led UVU with a 5K time of 18:41.5 to finish 11th. Brooke Hodson-Davies was 19th (19:05.3).

WCC • In Malibu, Calif., BYU senior Jason Witt's late surge lifted him to victory and led his No. 5 Cougars to a dominating team performance. It was BYU's second West Coast Conference title in three years.

Witt, who led for much of the race, was passed by two runners on the final lap. But his sprint to the finish in the 8K race helped him edge San Francisco's Eric Causey for the win. Both finished with a time of 23:14.

Joining Witt on the all-conference cross-country team are Steve Flint, who finished fifth, Tylor Thatcher (sixth) and Thomas Gruenewald (seventh).

The BYU women's team finished third, and placed two runners on the all-conference team: Andrea Harrison, who finished seventh, and Natalie Shields, who was ninth.

Pac-12 • The Utah women's team finished eighth at the Pac-12 Championships on Saturday in Boulder, Colo., led by the 12th-place finish of Rebekah Winterton, whose time of 21:59 earned her all-conference second-team honors. The Arizona women won the team race; Colorado won on the men's side.

Football

Dixie State 42, Simon Fraser 35 • In Burnaby, British Columbia, Griff Robles connected with Mitch Frei on two first-quarter touchdowns and the Red Storm held on for the win. Robles, a University of Utah transfer who went to Spanish Fork High, had 319 passing yards and five touchdown passes, including three to Frei, who had eight receptions for 184 yards. J.D. Duncan caught six passes for 120 yards and two TDs.

Snow College 36, Arizona Western 28 • The Badgers won their consolation bracket game in Ephraim in the inaugural Western States Football League playoffs. Snow College will play next Saturday in the consolation bracket final against the winner of Saturday night's Glendale-Pima contest.

Women's volleyball

Washington State 3, Utah 0 • In Pullman, Wash., the Cougars swept the Utes 27-25, 26-24, 25-20. Junior outside hitter Chelsey Schofield had 11 kills and a team-high 12 digs. Senior middle blocker Erin Redd-Brandon had a team-high 13 kills and three blocks for the Utes (17-7, 6-6 in Pac 12).

BYU 3, Pepperdine 2 • In Provo, the Cougars dug themselves out of a two-set deficit to win in five sets, 15-25, 17-25, 25-23, 25-16, 15-8. The Cougars got a career-high 11 blocks by Kathryn LeChaminant, 16 kills by Alexa Gray and 14 kills and four blocks from Tambre Haddock to move to 19-4 overall and 12-1 in the West Coast Conference.

Colorado State 3, USU 2 • In Logan, the Aggies gave the unbeaten and ninth-ranked Rams a big scare before falling in five sets, 20-25, 21-25, 25-18, 27-25, 15-8. The Aggies (15-8, 8-4 Mountain West) won the first two sets but couldn't topple Colorado State (21-0, 12-0 MW). USU got 15 kills from Elle Brainard, and 13 each from Tumua Etimani, Rachel Orr and Kaitlyn VanHoff.

North Dakota 3, Weber State 1 • In Ogden, the Wildcats kept it close against the Big Sky leader but lost 25-23, 25-18, 22-25, 25-16. Audrey Biggs had 14 kills and Rebecca Fuchs had 12 for Weber State, which fell to 7-21 overall and 3-11 in Big Sky play.

Staff and wire reports