Former BYU runners Conner Mantz and Aubrey Frentheway both won 20K national titles on Monday.
Mantz and Frentheway, who are both coached by BYU’s Ed Eyestone, won the men’s and women’s U.S. 20K Championship at the Faxon Law New Haven Road Race in Connecticut.
Completing the course in 1:05:36, Frentheway won her first-ever national title.
“I feel like I didn’t have a very solid plan going in. I had no idea how I’d feel. Workouts have been hit and miss,” Frentheway said, per USA Track and Field. “I know I do good on the hills, so I had mapped out which miles they were at. The competition was great. I had no idea when I came into the race what would happen.”
In the 5,000-meter, Frentheway is No. 5 all-time at BYU in the indoor and No. 6 all-time in the outdoor, per the university.
Conner Mantz breaks 20K record
Mantz’s victory was also historic.
On Monday, Mantz broke the 20K American record he set in January at the Houston Half Marathon by seven seconds with a time of 56:16.
“I thought we were going to run closer to 58 minutes,” Mantz said, per USATF. “That was really painful the way we ran this race today, but I was grateful to come away with the win.”
Mantz also beat Hillary Bor’s 20K championship record from last year and the New Haven Road Race record that Khalid Khannouchi set 27 years ago.
But because the course has changed since Khannouchi ran and set the record, Mantz’s time is not considered a course record, according to the Hartford Courant.
Bor placed second, finishing 16 seconds behind Mantz. Isai Rodriguez rounded out the top three, finishing two seconds behind Bor.
“I don’t think I could have done it if Hillary and Isai weren’t pushing so much,” Mantz said, per the Courant. “Those middle miles were really tough and we were running into the wind. I kind of dropped back a little bit in miles 8-9-10, then we made the last left turn, I made a big push.”
Casey Clinger, also from BYU, placed fifth.
Mantz told the Courant that Monday “was the type of race I needed” ahead of next month’s Chicago Marathon, which Frentheway will also race in.
“A win always is helpful but the biggest thing is a really hard effort,” he said.