Stanford halts Y.'s 3-peat bid

WATERLOO, Iowa — Stanford kept the BYU women's cross country team from three-repeating as national champion as the Cardinal swept the men's and women's team titles at the NCAA cross country championships Monday.

The Cougars took second with a score of 128, eight points behind Stanford. There was a difference of only four seconds between the two teams.

"We really can't complain," BYU women's head coach Patrick Shane said. "We certainly have won our share of the championships. Now it is just time to congratulate Stanford and celebrate this time."

Shane said BYU just ran up against a better team today.

"Stanford really has been No. 1 all year, despite what the rankings said," he said. "They have been knocking at the national championship door for six years now, and it finally opened for them."

Senior Michaela Mannova, in her final cross country meet for the Cougars, finished fourth with a time of 19 minutes, 52.2 seconds in the six-kilometer event. Also scoring for BYU were Kassi Andersen, 13th at 20:14.5; Laura Turner, 14th at 20:16.0; Breanne Sandberg, 31st at 20:46.4; and Suzanna Larsen, 66th at 21:11.0

"Michaela certainly finished strong, as did the team," Shane said. "This group of top four runners is better than our top four from last year. It just all depends on our fifth runner. We really needed someone scoring in the high 50s to win."

The BYU men's team, making only its 12th NCAA appearance, finished 19th with a score of 447. The Cougars' highest finisher was Nathan Robison (29th at 30:15.8 in the 10K race), who earned All-American status.

BYU standout Kip Kangogo finished 82nd overall, running 30:55.0. Head coach Ed Eyestone said Kangogo, ever since the pre-national race, has had pressure in the sternum area and inflammation in his ribs.

"It makes it kind of hard to keep up when you are trying to run with the other guys," Eyestone said. "Kip really just sucked it up. He showed that he really is a team player."

Stanford, meanwhile, showed that Californians can run in cold weather, too. The Cardinal handled the frigid temperatures and biting wind as if they were used to such conditions.

Stanford placed four runners among the top six to repeat as the men's champion with 24 points, the second-lowest total in the history of the NCAA meet.

It was the third time a school won both championships. Stanford did it in 1996 and Wisconsin in 1985.