TSR's 2022 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Rankings (Women): #15 Utah Utes

For the most part, the Utah women were absolutely incredible last fall.

The Utes proved to be an upper-tier team closer to that of Colorado than of Colorado State. They flexed tremendous firepower, good enough depth and a clear edge that they didn't always show during their breakout 2019 cross country season.

But in 2022, this team will look a bit different and the roster structure will need to be refined. Multiple top-tier scorers have now left, but there is still a strong nucleus of talent on this Utah roster.

And if the Utah women have proven anything over the years, it's that they are more than capable of shattering expectations.

* * *

The Utah women started off their fall 2021 cross country season at the Dellinger Invite, an Oregon-hosted meet that featured some talented squads including Arkansas, Colorado State and Oregon.

And yet, despite the top-level competition, the Utes handled the field with almost zero problems. The trio of Ariel Keklak, Emily Venters and Simone Plourde put together a fantastic trio of finishes, going 4-5-6 to lead the team.

Veteran teammate Bella Williams wasn't far behind, posting an 11th place finish and keeping any excessive scoring at a minimum. For perspective, she was 15 points better than the next-best fourth scorer in the field.

Cara Woolnough, another proven veteran, faded a bit to 19th place, but that was still a strong result to quickly close out Utah's scoring.

In the end, the women from Salt Lake City would cruise past their competition with ease, scoring just 38 points, 55 points better than runner-up Arkansas.

At Pre-Nationals, the Utah women would continue to thrive, putting themselves in the mix with the country's most elite distance programs.

Bella Williams and Emily Venters would standout as two excellent low-sticks for the Utes, placing 12th and 13th, respectively. That top-tier scoring potency was followed by Simone Plourde in 34th place while Keklak and Woolnough closed out the team's top-five with finishes of 42nd place and 48th place, respectively.

For the most part, Utah had a well-balanced top-five. They had two true low-sticks, reliable backend scorers and a middle-lineup contributor who was able to bridge the gap between those two areas.

While the Colorado women proved to be far too much of a challenge, the Utah women still settled for an excellent runner-up result, this time taking down Florida State, Ole Miss, North Carolina and Arkansas.

Going into the postseason, it felt safe to say that the Utah women were a top-10 team in the country. They had an ideal lineup structure and had shown on more than one occasion that they could post nationally competitive results.

And their showing at the PAC-12 XC Championships further validated that idea.

In one of the most competitive conference meets in the nation, Utah thrived, putting together what was likely their best race of the season.

Venters was phenomenal, posting a huge 3rd place finish while Woolnough locked down an excellent 7th place result of her own. With Plourde, Williams and Barger going 11-15-16 in the overall standings, the Utah women once again had a lineup that took full advantage of their low-stick stars without sacrificing scoring on the backend.

And once more, Utah would fall to Colorado while still securing a very strong 2nd place finish over Oregon, Stanford, Washington and Oregon State.

The Utes would later venture to the Mountain Regional XC Championships. And while the main purpose of the meet was to advance to the NCAA XC Championships, the Utah women didn't exactly have their best race, finishing 5th overall and earning an at-large bid.

But the regional meets, in the eyes of The Stride Report, don't hold a ton of weight for a few of the top teams in the country. The national meet, after all, was the bigger priority.

Unfortunately, things wouldn't get much better for Utah in their final race of the season. Despite dominating most of their competition throughout the season, the Utes faltered with a handful of women having "off" days.

Bella Williams had a solid showing by placing 51st and Cara Woolnough also secured a top-100 finish by placing 86th overall. With Keklak placing 118th, the Utah women were at least holding their own through three scorers, even if they didn't jump off the page.

However, from there, no other Utah runner placed in the top-160 of the overall results. Even worse, Emily Venters and Simone Plourde both recorded crushing DNF results, leaving the Utes with far less scoring potency than they were expected to have.

And in the end, the Utah women would have to settle for a 20th place team finish, a result that was not at all a proper reflection of their actual talent.

* * *

It might be easy to look at last year's national meet and assume that those results were an accurate indication of how good the Utah women were last fall.

But if you look at their entire 2021 cross country season, it was abundantly clear that the Utes were a top-10 team in the NCAA. They had crazy-good firepower and very strong scoring support.

For the most part, this was one of the more balanced teams in the nation.

Of course, this lineup is going to look a bit different in 2022 compared to last year and that's mainly because there are two major departures who could hamper this team's overall scoring.

Both Bella Williams and Cara Woolnough are not returning to Utah this fall, a brutal development that is hard to look past going into these fall months. Those two veterans were very consistent last fall and have even been fringe low-sticks depending on the season.

Admittedly, the guaranteed scoring that Williams and Woolnough brought to the table will likely not be replicated this fall. While there are solid reinforcements on this roster, trying to plug those scoring holes in their entirety will be a major challenge.

So then...how do we rank this team? How do we balance the fact that Utah was a top-10 cross country squad last fall with their poor national meet performance and the loss of two scorers?

Honestly, we don't have a good idea of how to answer those questions, but a TSR #15 ranking seems more than appropriate all things considered.

* * *

Emily Venters returns to this team in 2022 and that is huge. Despite her DNF at the national meet, she still brings incredible top-end scoring and a legitimate spark to a program that will certainly need it this fall.

And while Venters was phenomenal throughout 2021 and also strong on the track, her injury history is something that we do need to monitor.

A DNF result at the national meet was obviously not ideal and she ended her outdoor track season early with a "nagging & angry right calf" injury according to her Instagram. Venters has also battled multiple injuries in the past, a challenging experience that she was nice enough to detail for The Stride Report back in the summer of 2020.

But let's put those injuries aside. Venters has proven on numerous occasions that she is an elite-level scorer when completely healthy. Her value to this team couldn't be higher and that was reflected at last year's national meet.

If Venters can replicate her 2021 cross country results throughout the entirety of the 2022 season, even through the national meet, then there should be no questions about Utah being a top-20 team in the country.

It's a somewhat similar story for Simone Plourde, the BYU transfer who thrived with the Utes last fall. Despite being a second-year talent, the rising junior emerged as fringe low-stick.

She was 6th at Dellinger, 34th at Pre-Nationals and 11th at the PAC-12 XC Championships before recording an aforementioned DNF result at the national meet. That DNF result was likely a fluke as Plourde would go on to have excellent indoor and outdoor track campaigns, specifically in the 1500 meter and mile distances.

The great thing about Plourde is that she still has plenty of room to grow. The Utah standout is now in her third year in the NCAA and could absolutely improve in terms of last year's scoring.

That upside is hard to ignore. If she is able to mimic the low-stick scoring presence that Williams and Woolnough interchangeably held last fall, then the top-end of Utah's scoring this fall shouldn't see that much of a drop-off.

Then we come to Ariel Keklak, the former Johns Hopkins runner who was an outstanding varsity contributor for Utah last fall.

At the Dellinger Invite, Keklak recorded an excellent 4th place finish to lead the Utes in their scoring. However, from there, she would post a decent 42nd place finish at Pre-Nationals and a less-than-ideal 48th place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships.

Keklak recorded a 118th place finish at the national meet, a solid result which was a good reflection of her overall season, but not a good reflection of her true potential.

Keklak's Dellinger Invite result was far better than some people may realize. However, she just never fully replicated that performance throughout the rest of the 2021 cross country season.

While it's clear that Keklak will be a solid third scoring option for Utah this fall, one has to believe that she has even more untapped scoring potential within her. If she is able to reproduce her Dellinger Invite result on a more consistent basis, then the Utes scoring trio in 2022 could potentially rival what they had in 2021.

And there's one more returner who caught our attention last fall: Keelah Barger.

The former Arizona Wildcat was 24th at the Dellinger Invite, 86th at Pre-Nationals, 16th at the PAC-12 XC Championships and 162nd at the NCAA XC Championships.

Admittedly, Barger's 2021 cross country results were a bit scattered, but she emerged as a top-five scorer more often than not -- and that was encouraging to see when thinking about Utah's 2022 lineup.

If Barger replicates her 2021 results this fall and settles in as the team's fifth scorer, then the Utah women should be fine. While their backend would be a solidified as last year, Barger will still be able to hold her own and close out this scoring.

But if Barger is able to replicate her PAC-12 performance on a more consistent basis, then she could, in theory, be a high-impact fourth scorer, making Utah one of the most complete lineups in the nation through four runners.

* * *

The Utah women have some excellent options going into this fall. They own great firepower, solid middle-lineup contributors and room for improvement.

However, trying to fill out the rest of this lineup will not be easy. With both Williams and Woolnough gone, the backend of this varsity group holds plenty of uncertainty and potential vulnerability.

Still, there are some sneaky-good options who could come in and make a better-than-expected impact for the Utes later this fall.

Veronic Boire, for instance, is a Canadian who is transferring from Virginia to Utah. While her cross country performances for the Cavaliers were limited to three unexciting races, the potential that she could bring to the Utes roster this fall is exciting to think about.

A personal best of 9:28 for 3000 meters would make Boire one of the faster fifth scorers in the nation for that event. Of course, trying to figure out how that PR actually translates to the grass is hard to figure out, especially since we don't know if her 2021 fall campaign is an accurate indication of her true cross country talent.

Other women such as Morgan Jensen and Lauren Peterson could also play a role at the backend of this lineup. Those two Utah youngsters both finished in the top-50 at the PAC-12 XC Championships and have shown scattered promise in past meets.

Lisha van Onselen was listed as a senior last fall, although it's possible that she may return. She was also a top-50 finisher at her conference meet and often played a backend varsity role for Utah last fall.

However, the most interesting varsity options that Utah has this year aren't returners and they aren't transfers -- instead, they're recruits.

Erin Vringer, for instance, ran 4:43 for 1600 meters at the prep level and was 3rd at New Balance Nationals. And then there is Kylie Hartnett who has run 4:56 (1600) and 10:54 (3200), all of which was done at altitude. She also the runner-up finisher at the Montana State XC Championships.

Vringer and Hartnett will still have to develop a good bit to make an impact on this Utah squad in 2022. Even so, their credentials are very solid and if Utah simply needs a fifths scorer, then either of these recruits may be good enough to fill that spot...we think.

* * *

We'll admit, the uncertainty in the final three spots of this seven-person lineup is a little bit of a concern. While the fifth, sixth and seventh runners don't need to be superstars, they do need to ensure that any excessive scoring at the backend doesn't negate the gains made at the frontend.

But if these were two vacant scoring spots instead of one, then the Utah women certainly wouldn't be ranked this high.

On paper, the firepower that the Utes boast still holds more weight than however their fifth scorer performs. Utah still has room to develop and they likely have the best top-four in their conference...outside of Colorado.

For the last few years, Utah has found ways to get better and better, even when we didn't think they could.

And as we enter the fall of 2022, that might be the case once more.