BYU cross country: Cougs qualify 8 for cross country finals

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Eight BYU cross country runners will travel to Terra Haute, Ind., for the NCAA Championships after earning their ticket at the NCAA Mountain Regionals on Saturday.

In both the men's and women's regionals, the top two teams at each meet will earn automatic bids to the NCAA National Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.

Today a selection committee will name 13 at-large teams (both men and women), comprising the 31 teams at the national championships to advance to the NCAA Championships. There will also be 38 individuals advancing to each meet. The top four runners at each regional meet not on an advancing team automatically advance to the national meet. The selection committee will also select two additional at-large runners.

BYU: Jacob Gustafsson, Stephen Shay, Dan Hinckley, Ryan Merriman, Rich Nelson, Nate Ogden, Kyle Perry and Angela Wagner have secured their places at the NCAA National Championships Nov. 24 in Indiana.

"We ran a controlled race today," said BYU men's cross country coach Ed Eyestone. "We ran hard enough to get a good performance and make it to Nationals, but we will still be rested enough to give it our all in Indiana."

The men's team placed third overall with 70 points in the 10K, falling to Colorado (42 points) and Northern Arizona (65 points).

Perry was second overall and first for the Cougars with a time of 29.29. He was followed by Shay, fifth overall, with 29:57, Nelson, 17th in 30:14, Gustafsson, 22nd in 30:23 and Merriman finishing up the top five in 24th with a time of 30:26.

Also running for the men were Nate Ogden, placing 26th overall in 30:36 and Thomas Gruenewald in 28th with a final time of 30:38.

Unfortunately, the women's team fell to Texas Tech (42 points), New Mexico (70 points), Northern Arizona (92 points) and Colorado (133 points), therefore unable to secure a team placement at Nationals.

Wagner will, however, be traveling to Nationals and representing BYU due to her placement in the women's 6K.

With 152 points, the women's team came in fifth. Placing first for BYU and fourth overall was Wagner with a time of 20:43. She was followed by Katy Andrews, 27th, in 21:23.4, Cecily Lemmon, 28th, in 21:23.8, Anna Sperry, 46th, in 21:45 and Stacy Slight closing in the top five in 47th with a time of 21:46.

Finishing up the remaining BYU team were Stephany Jensen, 47th, in 21:49 and Rachel Lange, 52nd, in 21:52.