BYU cross country: Cougars advance to nationals

ALBUQUERQUE — Not satisfied with second-place finishes from the conference meet on Oct. 31, the BYU men's and women's cross country teams came up big at the NCAA Mountain Regional as the men took first place and the women arrived in third.

With their performances, both teams will advance to run at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind.

The No. 14 men's team scored 54 points in a 10K event to overcome No.

5 Colorado (55), No. 12 New Mexico (77) and No. 4 Northern Arizona (86) among others to earn the victory in a tough NCAA Mountain region.

"It was a spectacular outing for us today," said BYU men's cross country head coach Ed Eyestone. "We beat some very good, quality programs and didn't run ourselves into the ground. I think we were motivated to come back into competition and show that we can run on a national level."

Sophomore Miles Batty once again led the Cougars as he finished in second place in 30:03.5. Northern Arizona runner David McNeill won the race soundly in 29:51. Batty was able to beat New Mexico's Jacob Kirwa, the Mountain West Conference victor, by 14 seconds. The three emerged from the crowd early on, but Kirwa slowly faltered and McNeill managed to get away from Batty with three quarters of a mile left.

Seniors Richard Nelson and Brandon Hebbert proved their leadership with ninth and 12th-place finishes, respectively, before sophomore Tommy Gruenewald and junior Nate Ogden solidified the one-point victory by arriving in their respective 15th and 16th positions.

Alden Bahr (20th) and Ryan Merriman (43rd) also competed well for the Cougars.

"I'm very proud of our guys to come out and run hard," Eyestone said.

"More importantly, we feel that we still have some energy and that we can have a repeat performance at nationals."

No. 22 BYU women The No. 22 BYU women also had a positive experience in Albuquerque to take third place in a very tough field. The Cougars scored 114 points and lost only to No. 6 Colorado (48) and No. 8 Texas Tech (53), but overcame MWC champion No. 20 New Mexico (120) and No. 32 UTEP (116), among others.

"We feel very good about the race," said BYU women's cross country head coach Patrick Shane. "The girls ran great and we showed why we're a top program."