BYU, Weber State harriers finish in top half

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Pre-Nationals is a good midseason barometer of where a cross country team stands, and BYU women and men finished in sixth and 11th places, respectively.

Because of the number of school competing, races were in "blue" and "white" divisions.

The No. 15 BYU women ran in the 6K white race against 35 other teams, with freshman Angela Wagner leading the way with a time of 20:59, good for 26th place. The BYU men ran in the 8K blue race against 38 other teams, as junior Stephan Shay paced the Cougars with a time of 23:52. Shay finished in 26th place as well.

The BYU women tied for sixth, topping No. 18 Providence, No. 20 Florida, No. 23 Iowa and No. 28 Georgia.

Just 26 seconds separated the scoring top five for BYU, the closest splits the team has had with its top runners all year. BYU women's coach Patrick Shane said he was especially impressed with the race of senior Jenna Jensen.

"Jenna Jensen had the best race of the year, and maybe her life," Shane said of Jensen's 21:18, good for third among Cougar runners.- "I'm really happy with her effort, and it shows the depth of our team."

Wagner said she ran well for the first 3K, but got tired over the final half-mile.

"That last half-mile went pretty bad," Wagner admitted. "A 6K race is still a stretch for me considering I'm an 800m runner."

Behind Wagner was sophomore Katie Bowen (21:00), Jensen, freshman Cecily Lemmon (21:20) and junior Amber Duffin (21:25).

For the BYU men, "it was probably our best overall run this year," coach Ed Eyestone. "I was particularly impressed with our third through six runners. We've just got to close the gap a little bit between our second and third runners."

Trailing just five seconds behind Shay for the Cougars was 2005 All-American Chandler Goodwin. There was then a 19-second gap with the next four Cougar runners finishing just six seconds apart.

"Stephan and I ran by each other the whole race," Goodwin said. "This course that we ran on today was in great shape. It was cool and overcast — perfect racing conditions."

Rounding out the top 5 for the Cougars were sophomore Brandon Hebbert (24:16), junior Dan Hinckley (24:18) and junior Jacob Gustafsson (24:22).

Both BYU teams will be in action on Oct. 27 in San Diego for the Mountain West Conference Championships.