BYU’s cross-country teams punch their tickets to NCAA championships
The BYU men’s and women’s cross-country teams — both ranked No. 3 in the latest national polls — claimed a pair of second-place finishes in the the NCAA Mountain Regional Cross-Country Championships Friday in Lubbock, Texas. The top two teams automatically qualify for the NCAA championships, which will be held Nov. 18 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Perennial powerhouse Northern Arizona, which is ranked No. 1 in both the men’s and women’s national polls, won both of the team races, beating BYU by a mere 13 points in the women’s race and by 53 in the men’s race.
The BYU men’s team, which did not enter two of its top runners in order to rest them for nationals, finished with 89 points, while NAU scored 36. BYU placed no runner in the top 10, but the team’s depth carried them to the runner-up finish. James Corrigan was 12th, and teammates Kenneth Rooks, Lucas Bons and Joey Nokes finished 16th, 17th and 18th, respectively, out of 123 runners.
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The BYU women’s team, the Big 12 Conference champions, placed three runners in the top 10 in the 135-woman field. BYU’s Carmen Alder and Aubrey Frentheway finished fourth and fifth, respectively, over the 6,000-meter course, with only .10 of a second separating them. Teammate Lexy Halladay was ninth, and Carlee Hansen, a junior from Woods Cross who transferred from North Carolina, was 16th.
Utah Valley’s Morgan Nokes, whose husband Joey finished 18th in the men’s race, was UVU’s top finisher, placing 12th.
Utah schools took three of the top five places in the 20-team field in the women’s competition. Utah finished a distant third behind NAU and BYU, followed by Colorado and Utah Valley, 136. Utah State was eighth (217), Weber State 13th and Southern Utah 15th.
In the men’s competition, Weber State was ninth, Utah State 10th, Southern Utah 11th, Utah Valley 12th.
Top Utah finishers in the women’s race
4. Carmen Alder, BYU, 19:30.5
5. Aubrey Frentheway, BYU, 19:30.6
9. Lexy Halladay-Lowry, BYU, 19:47.1
12. Morgan Nokes, UVU, 19:49.0
14. Annasasia Peters, Utah, 19:53.0
16. Carlee Hansen, BYU, 19:57.6
17. Ari Trimble, UVU, 19:58.2
18. McKaylie Caesar, Utah, 20:04.6
19. Morgan Jensen, Utah, 20:04.8
23. Emma Thornley, USU, 20:15.9
25. Anastaysia Davis, BYU, 20:16.6
26. Jacey Farmer, BYU, 20:17.5
31. Abbie Fuhriman, UVU, 20:25.9
32. Clara Mayfield, Utah 20:27.9
34. Abby Jensen, USU, 20:31.9
36. Oakley Olson, UVU, 20:34.2
37. Kataryna Nowakowska, Utah, 20:35.2
28. Taylor Rohatinsky, BYU, 20:37.1
40. Lydia Beus, UVU, 20:38.9
Top Utah finishers in the men’s race
12. James Corrigan, BYU, 29:19.8
16. Kenneth Rooks, BYU, 29:25.7
17. Lucas Bons, BYU, 29:25.9
18. Joey Nokes, BYU, 29:25.9
24. Peter Visser, Weber St., 29:43.1
26. Garrett Stanford, BYU, 29:48.6
31. Jacob Stanford, BYU, 30:05.5
