BYU, ranked No. 1 in the nation in both men’s and women’s cross-country, will try to make a little history when they compete in the NCAA championships Saturday in Wisconsin. They will attempt to become only the fifth team ever to win both the men’s and women’s NCAA championships in the same year.
The feat was accomplished by Colorado in 2004, Stanford in 1996 and 2003, and Wisconsin in 1985.
The Cougars won the men’s and women’s titles at both the Big 12 championships and the NCAA Mountain Region competition. It is a measure of the depth of both teams that they were able to win the region meet while resting some of their top runners.
BYU is a distance-running powerhouse. Seven of the school’s current and former distance runners qualified for the U.S. Olympic track team last summer in Paris — the most by any school.
The NCAA championships will begin with the women’s race at 8:20 a.m. MST, followed by the men’s race. They will be televised by ESPN.
The BYU women, who finished 14th and eighth in the last two NCAA meets, won the championship in 2021 in between two runner-up finishes. North Carolina State has won the last three championships. BYU has claimed five women’s NCAA cross-country championships overall.
The top five teams in the women’s rankings are BYU, Oregon, Northern Arizona, West Virginia and Notre Dame.
BYU’s women’s team is led by Lexy Lowry, an All-American and one of the nation’s up-and-coming steeplechasers on the track. She did not compete in the region meet. Jenna Hutchins, a highly recruited sophomore, has been one of BYU’s top performers this season, but, hampered by an injury, she was 36th in the conference meet, 10th among her teammates. She also did not compete in the region meet. To lose a runner of that caliber would be devastating for most programs, but the Cougars have continued to win.
BYU’s other top performers: Riley Chamberlain, Carmen Alder, Taylor Rohatinsky, Taylor Lovell, Carlee Hansen, Destiny Everett.
The BYU men finished third in the last two NCAA championships, but won the team title in 2019 and was the runner-up in 2018. The top five teams in the rankings: BYU, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Iowa State and New Mexico.
“We are in a great place,” said coach Ed Eyestone. " … This entire year has been on the build from our very first workout in the summertime. I think we’ve done a very good job, preparation-wise, and putting ourselves in the best position.”
BYU faces a formidable challenge in the men’s competition. Oklahoma State, a program built on African runners, returned all of its athletes from last year’s NCAA championship team and added more foreign talent in the offseason. OSU was ranked No. 1 until BYU upset the Cowboys in the Big 12 championships.
“We realize that we’ve beaten Oklahoma State once before. We realize we’ve got a very big task ahead in trying to beat them, trying to beat Arkansas, trying to beat Iowa State … We have a very talented group of guys, and they’re tough. When you’re tough and talented, then we like our chances.”
— BYU men's XC coach Ed Eyestone
“We realize that we’ve beaten Oklahoma State once before,” said Eyestone. “We realize we’ve got a very big task ahead in trying to beat them, trying to beat Arkansas, trying to beat Iowa State … We have a very talented group of guys, and they’re tough. When you’re tough and talented, then we like our chances.”
There might not be a better time for BYU to strike. The team faces heavy graduation losses after this meet. According to Eyestone, this is the last collegiate cross-country competition for seniors Aidan Troutner, Joey Nokes and Casey Clinger, and there’s a chance that junior Olympic steeplechaser James Corrigan will leave school to turn pro this winter.
“I’ll be surprised if he stays even though he has another year (of eligibility),” says Eyestone. “He could’ve gone pro after making the Olympic team.”
Corrigan finished a surprising third in the steeplechase at last summer’s Olympic track and field trials in his first full season in the event. His return to collegiate competition was facilitated by an NIL deal with Nike, according to Eyestone. It was a natural arrangement since BYU is a Nike school.
Clinger, a four-time All-American and former national high school Runner of the Year from American Fork, will turn pro next year. According to Eyestone, Clinger also has signed an NIL deal with a shoe company — Brooks. He sat out the spring track season with an injury, but returned in time to compete in last summer’s U.S. Olympic Trials, finishing fifth in the 10,000-meter run. He finished third in the conference championships and fourth in the region meet.
BYU’s team includes Clinger, Nokes, Corrigan, Davin and Creed Thompson, Lucas Bons and Troutner. Five of the seven are Utah high school graduates.
Utah also will be represented in the competition, which will feature 31 teams in each race. The University of Utah, ranked No. 12 in the women’s poll, was awarded one of the 13 at-large berths in the NCAA championships. Utah’s team includes Erin Vringer, Annastasia Peters, Morgan Jensen, McKaylie Caesar and Lindsey Peters.
Utah State won one of the at-large berths in the men’s competition. Weber State’s Peter Visser was given one of the at-large berths awarded to the top athletes whose team did not qualify for the NCAA championships.
