"Some days you're gonna have a pigpen you run through," Eyestone said. "It was a decent race for him and serves as a motivator for him next year."

Senior Bryan Lindsay was the No. 2 runner for the Cougars the entire season as the rest of BYU's seniors struggled with health-related issues. Among others, All-American Nathan Robison's national championship race ended early with a side ache, and Matt Adams never fully recovered from a cold sustained early in the season.

Lindsay said he knew his team was capable of reaching their goal following BYU's performance at the pre-national race in mid-October. With two of their top runners competing individually in different races on the same day, the Cougars still finished in fourth place.

"We were confident knowing that we were that strong without some of our best links and started to believe that we were that caliber of a team," he said.