The Utah Valley University men's and women's cross-country teams swept all Western Athletic Conference titles at the Championship meet on Halloween morning at Lakeside Park, claiming the women's WAC Championship title for the first time and three-peating as the men's WAC Champions.
Freshman Sam Heaton easily won the women's individual WAC title on the 5K course with a time of 18:05.74, while senior Jason Lynch cruised to win the men's individual WAC title on the 8K course with an impressive time of 23:58.86. Upon being crowned WAC Champions, Lynch was named the men's WAC Athlete of the Year, and Heaton was named the women's WAC Athlete of the Year, the first Wolverines to bring home the honor in the Western Athletic Conference in cross-country. Heaton was also named the WAC Freshman of the Year, marking the second-consecutive year the Utah Valley women have been awarded the title.
Head coach Scott Houle was voted the WAC Coach of the Year, his 13th time receiving the honor in his tenure at UVU, his third-consecutive year earning the honor with the men's cross-country team in WAC competition and his first award with the women's cross-country team in WAC competition.
"This conference has been around for decades, and for our men to have a three-peat is an amazing accomplishment for Utah Valley. We have set this tradition for ourselves, and each year with a new team we have been able to achieve our goals of becoming conference champions," head coach and WAC Coach of the Year Scott Houle said. "Our women were overdue for this championship title, especially after being edged out by two points by Seattle U last year, so I am so happy for these women to have this success because they deserve it and they have worked hard for this all year."
Utah Valley has not captured both cross-country conference championship titles since 2012 when the men and the women won in the Great West Conference, while the men's cross-country team has not lost a conference championship since 2008, in the GWC and the WAC.
The men's team won the WAC crown with just 25 points, with Lynch leading the pack. Teammates Chris Brower (24:34.98), Tyson Lambert (24:37.00) and Logan Petty (24:40.31) comprised places fourth through sixth and joined Lynch on the All-WAC first team. Trac Norris finished in ninth place overall (24:50.90) for second team honors, placing all five scoring Wolverines in the top 10.
Missouri-Kansas City finished in second place overall with 47 points, while Seattle U finished in third with 91 points.
The historic accomplishment of the Utah Valley men clinching every championship since joining the WAC makes men's cross-country the most winning team at UVU in WAC play.
The women's team won their first WAC crown with 34 points and claimed the top three individual places, with McKayla Morgan (18:14.55) and Harley Murray (18:15.88) chasing Heaton across the finish line, earning first team All-WAC honors. Jasmine Nesbitt finished in 13th place overall (18:46.25) and earned second team All-WAC honors, while Savannah Berry (18:51.97) finished in 15th place overall and rounded out the top five scoring Wolverines.
Missouri-Kansas City finished in second place with 66 points after a tie-breaker, while Seattle U finished in third place also with 66 points.
Utah Valley next looks to compete at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships on Nov. 14, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.