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Timpanogos Golf Club
380 E 1860 S Provo UT 84606
Braden Taylor
| Posted: 27 Oct 2018 | Updated: 28 Dec 2020
PROVO, Utah – BYU cross country took home both the men’s and women’s West Coast Conference cross country titles after finishing first in both races on Saturday at the East Bay Golf Course.
The No. 2 BYU men’s team won its fourth consecutive WCC Championship with a dominant 21-point performance, 31 points ahead of second-place No. 5 Portland (52 points). The Cougars have claimed the conference title six of the last seven years.
"We got out front early like we wanted to and ran like a team," BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. "We were excited about the number of fans we had on the course and I thought the effort from the team was solid."
Connor McMillan led the way for the men’s team taking second place (23:23.0). The Cougars finished with four runners in the top five with Conner Mantz (23:24.7), Rory Linkletter (23:31.9) and Brayden McLelland (23:39.1) finishing 3-5. Jacob Heslington (23:47.3) and Clayson Shumway (23:50.6) took seventh and eighth, respectively. All six Cougars were named to the All-WCC First Team after finishing in the top 10.
“The two-three combo of Connor McMillan and Conner Mantz worked for us and gave them experience running up front,” Eyestone said. “Brayden McLelland stepped up for us. I was really pleased with his race and think it was the best of his collegiate career.”
Coach Eyestone received the men’s 2018 WCC Coach of the Year award, his sixth since the Cougars joined the conference in 2011. Clayton Young finished in 11th (24:05.9) and Zachry Jacklin placed 15th (24:15.1) to receive second-team All-WCC honors.
Men’s Team Notables
- The Cougars won their fourth consecutive conference title and their sixth in seven years
- Six BYU runners received first-team All-WCC honors, two named to the second-team
- Ed Eyestone received his sixth WCC Coach of the Year award
The No. 9 BYU women’s team took first with a total score of 27 points, edging out No. 19 Portland (40 points). After finishing as the runner-up the last three seasons, the Cougars won their second WCC title since the team joined the conference.
Erica Birk-Jarvis won the WCC individual title and her third race of the season with a time of 19:45.60, six seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. The All-American is the first runner from BYU to win the women’s WCC Championship race.
"It this was the best-case scenario coming into today," BYU associate head women's coach Diljeet Taylor said. "It was huge for us to win the conference championship as a team and for Erica to pick up the individual win."
Courtney Wayment crossed the finish line third overall (20:20.7) followed by Olivia Hoj in sixth (20:58.40). Aubrey Frentheway (21:11.3), Sara Musselman (21:14.3) and Anna Camp (21:16.0) finished 8-10. All six of BYU’s top-10 finishers received first-team All-WCC honors.
"Erica and Courtney have been our 1-2 punch with Whittni Orton being out," Taylor said. "Sara Musselman stepped-up into our top-five for the first time this season and I think we're going to see more improvement from the team as we approach regionals and nationals."
Frentheway was named the women’s WCC Freshman of the Year after her ninth-place finish while coach Taylor received the WCC Coach of the Year award for the first time in her career.
Women’s Team Notables
- The Cougars won their second WCC conference title since joining the conference in 2011
- Erica Birk-Jarvis is the first BYU runner to win the WCC individual title
- Aubrey Frentheway was named Freshman of the Year
- Six BYU runners were named to the All-WCC First Team
- Coach Diljeet Taylor received the women's WCC Coach of the Year award
The Cougars will stay at home as they host the 2018 NCAA Mountain Region Championships at the East Bay Golf Course on Friday, November 9. The race will be streamed on FloTrack.org and race details can be found on the BYU cross country homepage.
| Runner of the Year | Eric Birk-Jarvis, BYU |
| Freshman of the Year | Aubrey Frentheway, BYU |
| Coach of the Year | Diljeet Taylor, BYU |
| Place | Team | Score | Scoring Order |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BYU | 27 | 1-3-6-8-9(10)(19) |
| 2 | Portland | 40 | 2-4-5-12-17(20)(27) |
| 3 | San Francisco | 76 | 7-11-14-15-29(45)(47) |
| 4 | Loyola Marymount | 115 | 13-22-23-26-31(40)(58) |
| 5 | Saint Mary's | 172 | 16-24-25-50-57(61)(65) |
| 6 | San Diego | 180 | 21-36-37-42-44(51)(55) |
| 7 | Santa Clara | 198 | 32-35-38-39-54(60)(62) |
| 8 | Pacific | 205 | 18-30-34-56-67(68)(69) |
| 9 | Gonzaga | 206 | 28-41-43-46-48(52)(53) |
| 10 | Pepperdine | 268 | 33-49-59-63-64(66)(70) |
| 1 | Erica Birk-Jarvis | BYU |
| 2 | Lauren LaRocco | Portland |
| 3 | Courtney Wayment Smith | BYU |
| 4 | Taryn Rawlings | Portland |
| 5 | Aoibhe Richardson | Portland |
| 6 | Olivia Hoj | BYU |
| 7 | Tatjana Schulte | San Francisco |
| 8 | Aubrey Frentheway | BYU |
| 9 | Sara Musselman | BYU |
| 10 | Anna Camp | BYU |
| 11 | Megan Davies | San Francisco |
| 12 | Virag Weiler | Portland |
| 13 | Medelyn Vorgitch | Loyola Marymount |
| 14 | Alena Ulrichova | San Francisco |
| 15 | Elizabeth Bird | San Francisco |
| Runner of the Year | Nick Hauger, Portland |
| Freshman of the Year | James Mwaura, Gonzaga |
| Coach of the Year | Ed Eyestone, BYU |
| Place | Team | Score | Scoring Order |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BYU | 21 | 2-3-4-5-7(8)(11) |
| 2 | Portland | 52 | 1-10-12-14-15(19)(24) |
| 3 | Gonzaga | 94 | 9-13-18-25-29(30)(32) |
| 4 | San Francisco | 120 | 6-16-28-33-37(43)(51) |
| 5 | Santa Clara | 142 | 22-26-27-31-36(44)(48) |
| 6 | Loyola Marymount | 158 | 17-20-39-40-42(46)(50) |
| 7 | Pepperdine | 175 | 23-24-35-38-45(47)(61) |
| 8 | Saint Mary's | 222 | 21-41-49-55-56(57)(58) |
| 9 | San Diego | 278 | 52-53-54-59-60(62)(63) |
| 1 | Nick Hauger | Portland |
| 2 | Connor McMillan | BYU |
| 3 | Conner Mantz | BYU |
| 4 | Rory Linkletter | BYU |
| 5 | Brayden McLelland | BYU |
| 6 | Chris Olley | San Francisco |
| 7 | Jacob Heslington | BYU |
| 8 | Clayson Shumway | BYU |
| 9 | James Mwaura | Gonzaga |
| 10 | Riley Osen | Portland |
| 11 | Clayton Young | BYU |
| 12 | Caleb Webb | Portland |
| 13 | Peter Hogan | Gonzaga |
| 14 | Reuben Kiprono | Portland |
| 15 | Zac Jacklin | BYU |
Natalie Lopez
| Posted: 25 Oct 2018 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
Natalie Lopez
No. 2 men's, No. 9 women's cross country look to claim WCC Championships
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PROVO, Utah – The BYU men’s and women’s cross country teams are set to compete at home in the West Coast Conference Championships at the East Bay Golf Course, on Saturday, Oct. 27. This is the first year the WCC Championships will be hosted in Provo.
“I’m looking forward to all the BYU fans cheering the men’s and women’s teams onto victory,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “We know that we have our work cut out for us. On both sides, our top competition is going to be Portland.”
Following a first-place finish at the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Wisconsin and a four-meet winning streak, the No. 2 BYU men’s cross country team will be racing this weekend to claim the conference title for the fourth-straight year and sixth time in eight years. BYU’s ranked competition will include No. 5 Portland and No. 26 Gonzaga.
Last season at the WCC Championships, the Cougars were led to a perfect score and first-place finish by Connor McMillan. McMillan previously took first this season at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. Clayson Shumway, Clayton Young and Rory Linkletter also have first-place finishes from this season’s meets.
“We haven’t cut back in our training as much as we did maybe last year at this time,” Eyestone said. “When we do that, we run the risk of being a little tired at the Conference meet, but we’re doing that to hopefully power through at the National meet.”
Men’s Team Notables
- The Cougars took first at the 2017 WCC Championships with a perfect score of 15
- Connor McMillan led BYU with a first-place finish at the 2017 WCC Championships
- Since 2011 when BYU joined the WCC, the men’s team has claimed the championship title five times
“We’re super excited to be approaching the championship portion of our season,” BYU associate head women’s coach Diljeet Taylor said. “The girls have been working really hard and this is what we’ve been preparing for. The girls feel a home course advantage being in Provo and having the opportunity to do a practice there.”
Coming off a fourth-place finish at Pre-Nationals led by Erica Birk-Jarvis, the No. 9 women’s team is looking to claim the women’s WCC Championship title after finishing in second place the past three years. BYU's ranked competition will be No. 19 Portland.
At last season’s WCC Championships, the women took second, with Courtney Wayment finishing first for the Cougars and sixth in the meet. All-American Birk-Jarvis has led the Cougars this season with three first-place BYU finishes.
“The goal at a championship meet is obviously to win,” Taylor said. “The last two years we’ve come up in second place so we’re going to focus on executing our race plan and see how the competition ends up for us.”
Women’s Team Notables
- The women’s team has finished second at the WCC Championships for the past three seasons
- The Cougars took first in the 2014 season with a score of 36
- All-American Erica Birk-Jarvis last competed in the WCC Championships in 2016 when she took ninth overall and third for BYU
The WCC Championships will be hosted at the East Bay Golf Course in Provo, Utah, with the women’s 6K beginning at 10:30 a.m. MST followed by the men’s 8K at 11:30 a.m. MST. The meet will be streamed live on TheW.tv and live stats are available on recordtiming.com. Follow the BYU cross country Instagram and Twitter accounts for updates on the race. BYU welcomes fans and spectators to support the cross country teams on the home course.
