FORT COLLINS -- Once again the BYU cross country teams came away with a clean sweep at the Mountain West Conference Championship on Saturday at Collindale Golf Course in Fort Collins, Colo.

For the 18th consecutive season the women's team has captured the conference title, and the men bring home their eighth in nine seasons.

"Overall we had a fantastic effort," women's head coach Patrick Shane said. "We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish."

Sophomore Heidi Magill and junior Josh Rohatinsky led their teams to the title by picking up the individual Mountain West Conference crown.

The No. 8 women's first place finish came with all five of their scoring runners placing in the top-10, giving them a solid score of 23. Magill's victory came with an all-time MWC Championship record 6K time of 20:42.4. Chelsea Smith McKell (20:59.2, second), Breanne Sandberg (21:11.1, fourth), Ann Heiner (21:25.8, seventh) and Amy Fowler (21:28.8, ninth) completed the scoring for the Cougars. Colorado State finished third with 75 points, followed by Wyoming in fourth (121 points), San Diego State in fifth (134), Air Force sixth (138) and Utah seventh (189). TCU (192) and UNLV (274) finished eighth and ninth, respectively.

After winning the individual championship, Magill was honored as MWC Runner of the Year. In addition, Magill was named First Team All-MWC. Joining her were teammates McKell, Sandberg and Heiner. Second Team honors went to Fowler and Ann Marie Thomas. Besides being named to the Second Team All-MWC, Fowler picked up Freshman of the Year honors after her performance.

On the men's side, the No. 6 Cougars finished with 27 points, while runner-up Colorado State finished with a point total of 62, Air Force claimed third-place with 73 points, followed by Wyoming in fourth (108 points), New Mexico in fifth (119) and TCU in sixth (140).

Rohatinsky paced the field with a time of 24:12.9. His time was the second fastest clocking in MWC Championship history. By way of scoring for the Cougars, Rohatinsky was followed by Chandler Goodwin (24:38.7, fourth), Dustin Bybee (24:39.9, fifth), Josh McAdams (24:47.1, seventh) and Tyrel Jensen (24:56.6, tenth).

By picking up the individual victory, Rohatinsky was also crowed as MWC Runner of the Year and named to the All-MWC First Team. Also earning First Team honors were Goodwin, Bybee and McAdams. Second Team honorees were Tyrel Jensen and Jacob Gustaffson. Gustaffson was also honored as Freshman of the Year.

Coach Eyestone was also awarded with his third MWC Coach of the Year award. Earning the award marked the third time he has received the honor in the last four seasons.

BYU has two races remaining in their season. The Mt. Regional is up next and the Cougars will be running in front of a home crowd as they host the event. The meet will be at East Bay Golf Course in Provo, on Saturday Nov. 12.

2005 MWC WOMEN'S ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
FIRST TEAM:
Heidi Magill, So., BYU
Chelsea Smith-McKell, Sr., BYU
Timmie Murphy, Jr., New Mexico
Breanne Sandberg, Jr., BYU
Lital Azulay, So., San Diego State
Leslie Luna, So., New Mexico
Ann Heiner, Jr., BYU
SECOND TEAM:
Nicole Graham, Sr., Air Force
Amy Fowler, Fr., BYU
Jacquelyne Gallegos, Sr., New Mexico
Danielle Korb, Jr., Colorado State
April Thomas, Sr., Colorado State
Ann Marie Thomas, Fr., BYU
Kristen Hemphill, Fr., Colorado State
 
2005 MWC WOMEN'S AWARDS WINNERS
 
RUNNER OF THE YEAR:
Heidi Magill, BYU
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:
Amy Fowler, BYU
2005 MWC MEN'S ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
FIRST TEAM:
Josh Rohatinsky, Jr, BYU
Nick Wilson, Sr., Air Force
Kip Kangogo, Sr., TCU
Chandler Goodwin, So., BYU
Dustin Bybee, So., BYU
Josh Glaab, Sr., Colorado State
Josh McAdams, Sr., BYU
SECOND TEAM:
Rob Watson, Jr., Colorado State
Jeff Gosselin, Sr., Air Force
Tyrel Jensen, So., BYU
Cameron Clarke, Sr., New Mexico
Jacob Gustafsson, Fr., BYU
Paul Michel, Sr., Colorado State
Philemon Tanui, Jr., Wyoming
2005 MWC MEN'S AWARDS
RUNNER OF THE YEAR:
Josh Rohatinsky, BYU
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:
Jacob Gustafsson, BYU
COACH OF THE YEAR:
Ed Eyestone, BYU

PROVO -- Defending the title is the theme for both the men's (No. 6) and women's (No. 8) teams this Saturday as they prepare to add another to their list of Mountain West Conference titles in Fort Collins, Colo.

"Defending the title has been one of our goals all year long," men's head coach Ed Eyestone said.

"The tradition here is that we expect to win and we plan to win," women's head coach Patrick Shane said. "It doesn't mean we always will, but the feeling on the team right now is that this conference championship is ours if we go out and run well."

The women are looking to capture their 18th consecutive conference title and the men with be running for their eighth in nine seasons.

Shane said he feels the team has what it takes to bring back another title.

"I believe we'll be pretty formidable at the conference meet," Shane said. "We have a good strong team this year."

Shane said although they have had great success in the past, they can't take anyone in the conference for granted.

The race for the women's individual crown should be tight. Shane said that although the team has had great individual efforts all season long, the weekly conference award has gone to other top runners in the conference.

"There are at least four or five very good individuals in the conference," he said. "We have two young women, in Chelsea McKell and Heidi Magill, who I think are two of the best individuals in the conference and it wouldn't surprise me to see one of them win the conference championship."

Eyestone said he feel good about how the team has performed and hopes it will be a sign of how they will continue to perform.

"We should do very well," Eyestone said. "We're confident and the guys are fit. We know that Air Force and Colorado State always rise to the occasion and since Colorado State is hosting the event, I'm sure they'll run their best. If our guys just get out and run their races then we should come back with the conference crown again."

After winning the Pre-National Blue Race with a career and MWC season-best time last Saturday, in Terra Haute, Ind., junior Josh Rohatinsky appears to be the favorite and is looking to capture the men's individual title. He will have solid competition from TCU's Kip Kangogo for the second race in a row. Kangogo crossed the finish line nine seconds behind Rohatinsky for a second place finish at Pre-Nationals.

"I'm sure that Josh and Kip will give a really great race out front," Eyestone said.

The MWC Championship is the first of three championship races remaining on both team's schedules. The Cougars will be hosting the Mt. Regional on Nov. 12, and then they head back to Terra Haute, Ind., where Pre-Nationals were run, to finish the season at Nationals.