OREM -- On a bright, chilly morning at the Cascade Golf Center, the BYU men’s and women’s cross country teams earned second-place finishes at the Mountain West Conference Cross Country Championships.

New Mexico took first place in both races as the No. 19 Lobo men’s team edged the No. 7 Cougars by five points, 29 to 34, respectively, while the No. 21 BYU women’s team fell to No. 20 New Mexico as the Lobos won by a score of 24 to 45.

“It’s never fun to lose, but New Mexico came out and ran hard and deserved the victory,” said BYU women’s cross country head coach Patrick Shane. “The first mile we were doing very well but lost it midway through the race and couldn’t execute our plan to run together. We congratulate New Mexico for a good performance.”

BYU junior Cecily Lemmon-Lew earned the conference Women’s Athlete of the Year award as she finished in first place overall with a 6K time of 20:47.4, a mark that ranks second all-time in MWC Championship history and 23 seconds ahead of second-place New Mexico runner Ruth Senior. BYU true freshman Nicole Nielsen earned the Women’s Freshman of the Year conference award as she finished as the fourth Cougar runner and in 11th place overall in 21:42.

Sophomore Katy Andrews arrived as the second Cougar and came in sixth place overall followed by senior Angela Wagner in tenth place. Rachel Lange and Ashlee Thomas came in 17th and 18th place, respectively, while Lacey Cramer, Sarah Edwards and Sarah Yingling turned in solid performances.

“I thought it was a great race but the course was a little tougher than we thought it would be,” Lemmon-Lew said. “New Mexico did a good job of taking control as a team, but it’s an honor for me to receive the Athlete of the Year award. We ran well, but New Mexico really brought it and deserved to win.”

Lemmon-Lew’s award marks the tenth time in the 11-year conference history that a Cougar has come in first place at the MWC Championships.

Lemmon-Lew and Andrews earned spots on the All-MWC First Team with their finishes while Wagner and Nielsen made the All-MWC Second Team.

Colorado State finished in third place with 64 points, while Air Force (124), Wyoming (165), Utah (195), TCU (196), San Diego State (207) and UNLV (210) rounded out the field.

For the men’s 8K race, New Mexico won its first-ever MWC title as BYU was aiming for its tenth conference crown. Air Force is the only other school to win a league title as they accomplished the feat in 2003.

BYU sophomore Miles Batty finished one second behind New Mexico senior Jacob Kirwa, who took first place overall in 23:34.5, a new MWC Championship record. Kirwa also garnered MWC Male Athlete of the Year accolades.

“The race went as I thought it would go with me and Kirwa battling for the top spot,” Batty said. “It came down to the last 400 meters and we were both side-by-side figuring out who would make the next move. I took it but he managed to pull ahead at the end. You have to give New Mexico credit for taking it to us.”

BYU senior Richard Nelson came in fifth place overall in 24:01 followed by Nate Ogden (7th), Alden Bahr (9th), Brandon Hebbert (11th) and Ryan Merriman (12th). Tommy Gruenewald, Travis Fuller and Jonathan Nelson also competed well for the Cougars.

Batty, Nelson and Ogden earned spots on the All-MWC First Team with their finishes while Bahr, Hebbert and Merriman made Second Team All-MWC.

Air Force came in third place with 72 points while Colorado State (118), Wyoming (132) and TCU (186) followed.

New Mexico’s Joe Franklin was named the 2009 MWC Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year.

PROVO -- Having enjoyed multiple successful meets thus far in the 2009 season, the BYU men’s and women’s cross country teams prepare to host the Mountain West Conference Cross Country Championships Saturday morning at Cascade Golf Course in Orem, Utah.

The No. 7 men will compete first in an 8K race at 10 a.m. MT and will begin near the course clubhouse. As the 2009 preseason pick to take the MWC crown and having won nine of the last 10 conference championships, the Cougars are expected to receive stiff challenges from New Mexico and Air Force in this year’s bout.

“The competition will be very close,” said BYU men’s cross country head coach Ed Eyestone. “Air Force is always tough and New Mexico has several athletes with talent that can do a lot of damage. They’ve battled some injuries this year, but they are coached well and we refuse to take them lightly. We will have to give it our all to win this race.”

The Cougars are led by sophomore Miles Batty, who has been the first Cougar to arrive at the finish line in every race this season. Seniors Brandon Hebbert, Richard Nelson, and Ryan Merriman will compete in their last meet at home while teammates Tommy Gruenewald, Alden Bahr, Nate Ogden, Travis Fuller, Jonathan Nelson, Jon Kotter, Jared Rohatinsky and Dylan Shawhan will also run.

After losing to New Mexico by just two points in last year’s MWC championship, the No. 21 women’s team is ready to compete for its ninth MWC trophy.

“New Mexico is really good once again and Colorado State has the talent to make things interesting,” said BYU women’s cross country head coach Patrick Shane. “We have worked really hard to put ourselves in a position to win conference and I’m pleased with the effort and attitude the team brings to achieve our goals. It should be a very tight race.”

The women’s team is led by junior Cecily Lemmon-Lew, who owns the MWC best times in 5K and 6K events this season and has two first-place finishes on the year. Senior Angela Wagner, last year’s MWC individual champion, is also expected to provide leadership while Katy Andrews, Lacey Cramer, Lisa Drury, Sarah Edwards, Sarah Frey, Rachel Lange, Michaelanne Laurent, Nicole Nielsen, Ashlee Thomas and Sarah Yingling will also compete.

“Cecily is considered the favorite to win the individual championship, but we’ll need all of our runners to step up if we’re going to win the team championship because they’ll have a large bearing in the outcome of the race,” Shane said.

Fan attendance is highly encouraged for the events.

“We want to invite the student body to be at Cascade Saturday morning,” Shane said “The weather is projected to be good and the course is very spectator-friendly. We could use all of the cheering and voices we can to help propel us to victory.”

Results from the meet can be found at RunnerCard.com.

Cascade Golf Course is located at 1313 East 800 North in Orem, Utah. For directions to the course, click here. Admission is free.

2009 MWC Cross Country Championships
       Cascade Golf Center - Orem, UT
10 a.m. - Men's 8K race
11 a.m. - Women's 6K race
11:45 a.m. - Men's Awards Ceremony
12:00 p.m. - Women's Awards Ceremony