PROVO -- Hard work and preparation paid off for the BYU cross country teams as the men’s team took second place Friday evening at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore., while the women’s team took fourth place at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational in Verona, Wisc., Saturday morning.

Beating out No. 17 Michigan, No. 26 Wisconsin and No. 28 Arkansas with a total of 97 points, the No. 23 BYU women’s team fell just a few points shy of knocking off No. 10 Illinois (95), No. 21 Syracuse (80) and No. 29 Duke (78).

“It was a very competitive race with close finishes and I’m pleased with our performance,” said BYU women’s cross country head coach Patrick Shane. “To take fourth in this meet proved to be a solid race for us and we gained valuable experience going up against these upper-tier programs. We worked hard but fell just a few points shy of the winners.”

Junior Cecily Lemmon-Lew took first place overall in the competition with a 5K time of 17 minutes, a new course record at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course at University Ridge. In the last turn of the course with 200 meters remaining, Lew managed to give a final kick and outrun Illinois’ Angela Bizzarri to the finish line by three seconds.

“Cecily had a great race and beat a lot of solid runners out there,” Shane said.

“As a team we focused on running together and for each other,” Lew said. “We put it all on the line and gave a complete effort as a team by working on our footing and technique.”

Sophomore Katy Andrews turned in another strong meet by coming in eighth place in 17:26 followed by redshirt freshman Sarah Edwards in 16th place in 17:36. Senior Angela Wagner, last season’s Mountain West Conference champion, competed in her first race of the season and arrived in 33rd place just before Lacey Cramer rounded up the fifth spot for the team in 39th place overall.

“It was a lights-out performance by some of our runners,” Shane said. “Many girls had a solid race and improved a lot. We had a lot in our tank but didn’t hit on all cylinders. Only losing to the first-place team by 19 points shows how close it was.”

Nicole Nielsen, Ashlee Thomas, Rachel Lange, Sarah Frey, Lisa Drury, Sarah Yingling and Michaelanne Laurent also competed well for the team.

The No. 12 BYU men’s team came in second place with 63 points, knocking off No.1 Oregon (71) and No. 8 Portland (73) while falling only to No. 10 Alabama, who finished with 53 points.

Sophomore Miles Batty once again led the team by coming in third place overall in the meet and finished in 23:39.69, just seconds behind Alabama’s Tyson David (23:37) and Moses Kiptoo (23:38).

“We ran exceptionally well today,” said BYU men’s cross country head coach Ed Eyestone. “Miles had a great race and outkicked some pretty good runners in the final moments with about 100 meters to go to keep up with the leaders. It was a tremendous outing for us and we’re excited to move up a bit in the rankings.”

“I struggled a little bit midway through the race but kept up with the leaders with about a mile left,” Batty said. “In the last 100 meters or so I gave my last kick and couldn’t quite keep up. This race was a lot harder than the others. Our team ran hard and we're glad we beat Oregon but know we can still improve.”

Fellow sophomore Tommy Gruenewald came in second for the Cougars and 12th overall (23:57), followed by seniors Brandon Hebbert (23:58) and Rich Nelson (23:59), and sophomore Alden Bahr (24:08).

Nate Ogden and Ryan Merriman took the sixth and seventh spots, respectively, while Travis Fuller, Jon Kotter, Jonathan Nelson, Dylan Shawhan and Robert Harrison rounded up the roster with impressive finish times.

The Cougars also beat No. 30 Villanova (99) and No. 21 Cal Poly (173) among other well-known programs like UTEP, Colorado State and Weber State.

Wisconsin Adidas Invitational  
Pl.  Runner                      5K     
1   Cecily Lemmon-Lew         17:00.3
8   Katy Andrews              17:26.2
17  Sarah Edwards             17:36.9
34  Angela Wagner             17:50.7
40  Lacey Cramer              17:53.2
60  Nicole Nielsen            18:16.0
62  Ashlee Thomas             18:17.9
69  Rachel Lange              18:20.7
79  Sarah Hansen-Frey         18:35.9
87  Lisa Drury                18:51.9
89  Sarah Yingling            18:54.6
91  Michaelanne Laurent       18:55.4 
   Bill Dellinger Invitational
Pl.  Runner                      8K 
3   Miles Batty               23:39.61
12  Tommy Gruenewald          23:57.06
14  Brandon Hebbert           23:58.68
15  Richard Nelson            23:59.32
19  Alden Bahr                24:08.48
24  Nate Ogden                24:17.03
27  Ryan Merriman             24:19.66
37  Travis Fuller             24:35.27
38  Jon Kotter                24:36.00
49  Jonathan Nelson           24:49.21
52  Dylan Shawhan             24:57.38
79  Robert Harrison           25:55.39

PROVO -- The BYU men’s and women’s cross country teams are getting ready for their first major meets of the season as the men head to the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore., while the women will compete at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational in Verona, Wisc.

The No. 12 BYU men’s team will go up against a field with more than half of the schools nationally ranked. They will face off against No. 1 Oregon, No. 8 Portland, No. 10 Alabama, No. 21 Cal Poly and No. 30 Villanova as well as Mountain West Conference foe Colorado State.

“We’ll have to have a nearly perfect day if we’re going to knock off some of those teams,” said BYU men’s cross country head coach Ed Eyestone. “It’s a good opportunity for us to earn some at-large points and hopefully move ahead of Portland and Alabama in the rankings. We’ll need to stay competitive, but have fun while we’re at it and we’ll be able to run with those guys.”

Alden Bahr, Miles Batty, Travis Fuller, Tommy Gruenewald, Robert Harrison, Brandon Hebbert, Jon Kotter, Ryan Merriman, Rich Nelson, Jonathan Nelson, Nate Ogden and Dylan Shawhan will look to provide a strong showing for the Cougars.

“I’ve told the guys to go all out and give their best effort,” Eyestone said. “Hopefully they can run with strength and speed to compete well on a very fast course.”

Hosted by the University of Oregon, the 8K meet will take place at the Springfield Country Club at 5:15 p.m. MT. Results can be found at www.goducks.com or www.recordtiming.com/uo/dellinger09/.

Moving up the national poll by two spots, the No. 23 BYU women’s team will also face a competitive field. They will compete against No. 10 Illinois, No. 17 Michigan, No. 21 Syracuse, No. 26 Wisconsin, No. 28 Arkansas and No. 29 Duke.

Other notable competition includes Auburn, Georgetown, Iowa, Lamar, Marquette, Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Wisconsin-La Crosse.

“This is our first real test of the season,” said BYU women’s cross country head coach Patrick Shane. “It’s the first time we’ll have our top runners together to compete and showcase our talent. If we run well like we have at practice this week, we’ll be able to beat a lot of the teams there. We have a very good team.”

The Cougars will travel Katy Andrews, Lacey Cramer, Lisa Drury, Sarah Edwards, Sarah Frey, Rachel Lange, Michaelanne Laurent, Cecily Lemmon-Lew, Nicole Nielsen, Ashlee Thomas, Sarah Yingling and Angela Wagner. The race will be the first one this season for Wagner, last year’s MWC individual champion.

The 5K meet will be held at 10:45 a.m. MT at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course at University Ridge in Verona, Wisc. Results from the women’s meet can be found at www.UWBadgers.com.

“It will be a very challenging course,” Shane said. “It’s been 20 years since we were last in this race, but I’ve heard it is quite difficult. I believe that we have rested enough and prepared ourselves psychologically to do well in this race.”