SOUTH BEND -- In the first of three projected meets in Indiana, the No. 20 BYU men's cross country team finished in seventh place at the star-studded Notre Dame Invitational on Friday.

The meet featured six ranked teams with host No. 12 Notre Dame taking the victory. A total of 23 teams competed in the invitational.

The Cougars were led by senior Chandler Goodwin, who finished the five-mile course in 24:14, good for 13th place.

"Chandler Goodwin is our team captain and as expected, he ran well," BYU coach Ed Eyestone said. "We had some really good performances, and we had some guys who didn't have their best day."

Eyestone was especially impressed with freshman Curtis Carr's race. Carr, a 6-foot-5 native of Nashville, Ind., placed fifth on the team and 52nd overall.

"True freshman Curtis Carr ran especially well considering it was his first five-mile race at a meet with such a high level of competition," Eyestone said.

BYU's other top runners were Stephan Shay (17th overall), Dustin Bybee (43rd) and Brandon Hebbert (46th).

The Cougars were without Jacob Gustafsson, a junior and fourth-place finisher in last week's Dave Murray Invitational. Gustafsson was interviewing with accounting firms.

BYU's next meet will be at Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind., on Oct. 13. Should the Cougars continue to improve, they could qualify for a third trip to Indiana for the NCAA Championships.

Team Results
  
  1. NOTRE DAME                       
            2   10   16   30   34  (68) (93) =    92
  2. NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY  
            8   20   21   25   32  (96)(101) =   106
  3. PROVIDENCE COLLEGE               
            4   11   23   28   58  (81)(130) =   124
  4. MICHIGAN                         
            3   14   37   39   45  (50) (60) =   138
  5. FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY         
           12   26   29   36   44  (77)(116) =   147
  6. WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY           
            5   24   31   41   54  (80) (89) =   155
  7. BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY         
           13   17   43   46   52  (72) (83) =   171
Place   Name                   School                Class     Time   
    
1   JOSHUA MCDOUGAL      LIBERTY UNIVERSITY             SR      23:37 
2   Patrick Smyth        NOTRE DAME                     JR      23:44 
3   MIKE WOODS           MICHIGAN                       SR      23:49 
4   MAX SMITH            PROVIDENCE COLLEGE             SR      23:54 
5   SETH PILKINGTON      WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY         SR      24:02 
6   TRENT HOERR          ILLINOIS                       SR      24:07 
7   DAVID HEBERT         TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY           JR      24:08 
8   WESLEY SMITH         NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV.     SR      24:08 
9   PATRICK MELLEA       BOSTON COLLEGE                 SR      24:10 
10  Jake Watson          NOTRE DAME                     SR      24:11 
11  AHMED HAJI           PROVIDENCE COLLEGE             SR      24:12 
12  LUKE GUNN            FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY       SR      24:13 
13  CHANDLER GOODWIN     BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY       SR      24:14
17  STEPHAN SHAY         BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY       JR      24:20
43  DUSTIN BYBEE         BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY       SR      24:48
46  BRANDON HEBBERT      BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY       SO      24:50
52  CURTIS CARR          BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY       FR      24:52
72  TAYLOR FARNSWORTH    BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY       FR      25:10
83  TYREL JENSEN         BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY       SR      25:21
118 RYAN MERRIMAN        BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY       SO      25:53
120 DEREK TAYLOR         BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY       SR      25:54

PROVO -- Both BYU's No. 18-ranked women's and No. 20-ranked men's cross country teams hit the road for high-powered meets this weekend.

The women's team travels to Springfield, Ore., for the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Friday at 9:15 a.m. PST and the men's team heads to the Notre Dame Invitational on Saturday at 5 p.m. EDT. These are the first meets of the season when points toward nationals begin to add up.

"It's a very competitive meet and the level of competition will be exceptionally high," said Patrick Shane, BYU women's head coach of the Dellinger Invite. "By beating ranked teams we would enhance our chances of qualifying for nationals."

The Dellinger Invite will feature five top-25 NCAA finishers from 2006, including No. 4 Arkansas, last year's meet champion, No. 15 Georgia, No. 17 Washington, No. 18 BYU and No. 21 Colorado State. In 2006 at the invite, the BYU women's team placed second behind Arkansas.

The women's team is coming off a commanding victory at the Big Wave Invitational in Hawai`i, scoring just 20 points. With BYU's top runners resting, redshirt freshman Cecily Lemmon stepped up and placed second to lead all Cougar runners.

Stiff competition awaits the men in South Bend, Ind., as well. Six ranked teams highlight the men's race, including No. 9 North Carolina State, No. 12 Notre Dame, No. 14 Providence, No. 20 BYU, No. 24 Florida State and No. 25 Michigan. BYU's most recent trip to Notre Dame was in 2004 when the Cougars finished in fifth place. N.C. State won last year's race.

"This is going to be our first big invitational of the year," BYU men's coach Ed Eyestone said. "We're very excited about the opportunity to hook horns with some of these guys and see how we compare on the national level."

At the Dave Murray Invitational two weeks ago in Arizona, the Cougars finished in first place. Stephan Shay, a junior from East Jordan, Mich., placed first among college runners.