Goodwin best of Cougar runners at NCAAs

Brigham Young's Chandler Goodwin captured All-American honors for the second time in his career after finishing in 46th place at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday.

Goodwin — who was an All-American his sophomore year — was the top runner for BYU, which finished 22nd in the team standings. That was five places higher than their voted spot going into the race, a ranking that coach Ed Eyestone said the team "took exception to."

After the race, Eyestone, talking with the Deseret Morning News from Indiana, said the finish was pleasing.

"I'm an optimist, so I always have high expectations for our team, but I was really pleased with the performance," he said.

But Eyestone said after a strong fourth place showing at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships in Riverdale, Utah, on Nov. 10, his runners didn't perform up to that same level, comparatively speaking.

"We came out a little flat, but it's always a big challenge to follow up a good performance like that with another one."

Oregon won the team title, followed by Iona, Oklahoma State, Northern Arizona (the top Mountain Region team) and Wisconsin. Colorado State was the highest finishing team from the Mountain West Conference.

Individually, Josh McDougal of Liberty was first. NAU's Lopez Lomong was third. Mark Korir of Wyoming was the MWC's top finisher at 19th. Weber State's Seth Pilkington brought home 26th place.

Other BYU finishers were Brandon Hebbert (116th), Dustin Bybee (124th), Jacob Gustafsson (149th), Derek Taylor (155th), Stephan Shay (156th) and Tyrel Jensen (166th).

Freshman Cecily Lemmon paced the Cougar women by finishing in 45th place, helping her team to 25th in the team standings.

"She (Lemmon) ran the best race of her life," coach Patrick Shane said from Indiana.

Another BYU freshman, Angela Wagner — the team's top runner for most of the season — had a disappointing run. She finished 217th after hyperventilating during the race.

"Sometimes you get a flat tire, and she got a flat today," Shane said.

Other Cougar finishers were Katie Bowen (124th), Jenna Jensen (129th), Amber Duffin (157th), Tawny Bybee (165th) and Amy Fowler-Layne (233rd).