Top-Ranked BYU Squads Hold Off Close Battles With New Mexico Men, NAU Women; Pamela Kosgei, Solomon Kipchoge Hang on For Individual Titles

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

BYU photo

RESULTS | Auto Qualifiers - BYU men, New Mexico men; BYU women, Northern Arizona women

The BYU men's and women's cross country teams had their work cut out for at the NCAA Division I Mountain Regional, but the Cougars came away with a title sweep in the end on snowy Friday at the Washoe Golf Course in Reno, Nevada.

The No. 1 BYU men trailed by as much as fifth place after one-kilometer and collectively worked their way up the final two-kilometers to overtake No. 6 New Mexico by a final of 52-61.

Five BYU runners earned All-Region honors, including Casey Clinger finishing fourth overall in 29 minutes, 24.9 seconds on the 10-kilometer course in his final regional meet to lead the Cougars. Creed Thompson (29:27.1), Davin Thompson (29:29.4) and Joey Nokes (29:33.6) joined Clinger in the top 10, finishing sixth, eighth and ninth, while Luke Grundvig (29:53.6) rounded out the top 25.

New Mexico came away four All-Region runners, with Habtom Samuel running 28:59.2 for second, Vincent Chirchir running 29:29 for seventh, Evans Kiplagat running 29:34.8 for 10th and Collins Kiprotich running 29:40.3 for 16th.

No. 8 Northern Arizona, third with 71 points, saw David Mullarkey round out the top five individuals, running 29:26.

Texas Tech's Solomon Kipchoge led wire-to-wire from the gun to take the individual title in 28:55.9.

The No. 1 BYU women ran a strong second half of their race and scored 52 points to pull away from both No. 4 NAU and No. 10 New Mexico for the team title.

With a spread of 19 seconds, the Cougars earned five All-Region honors, with four of those finishers cracking the top 10.

Running without Lexy Hallday-Lowry, Riley Chamberlain was the low-stick for the BYU women in fifth place running 19:56.4, with Carmen Alder (19:57.8), Taylor Rohantinsky (20:05.6) and Taylor Lovell (20:09.2) finishing eighth through tenth. Carlee Hansen secured 20th place, running 20:15.1 to complete BYU's scoring.

Elise Stearns ran to a fourth-place effort in 19:55.4 and Ali Upshaw clocked 19:56.4 for sixth to lead second-place NAU to score 65 points. Alex Carlson (20:13.6, 15th), Keira Moore (20:14.4, 17th) and Karrie Baloga (20:17.4, 23rd) also earned All-Region honors for the Lumberjacks.

Pamela Kosgei took home the individual title in 19:30.9, helping the Lobos finish third in the team race with 111 points.

No. 9 Utah, led by Erin Vringer (20:11.9, 12th), finished fourth with 122 points. 

No. 30 Utah Valley completed the top five teams, scoring 161 points. Caila Odekirk was the Wolverines top finisher in 20:17.7.