SOUTH BEND, Indiana--The BYU cross country teams both showed great performances at the Notre Dame Invitational this weekend in South Bend, Indiana, with Senior Miles Batty finishing first overall for the men’s team and transfer Morgan Haws finishing second overall for the women’s team.

Not only did the men’s team produce the overall winner in Batty, but they were also able to come away with the first place finish as a team, scoring 46 points, and beating the second place team, Florida State, by 47 points.  

“The race went about as well as it could have,” head coach Ed Eyestone said.  “It was a very solid, strong day for us and the guys really put it together and ran well.”

In a five-mile race that had 205 participants, Miles Batty was able to continue his perfect season by finishing first overall, with a time of 23:59.  BYU also finished two other runners in the top six including Jared Ward, who finished fourth with a time of 24:03, and Rex Shields, who came in sixth with a time of 24:10.  

“Early on there were quite a few runners that were up front, pushing the pace, so I tried to just stay up front and not worry too much about what they were doing,” Batty said. “I tried to run a steady pace and after about halfway I felt a lot better and I was able to kind of take the lead and go from there.”

Ranked 14th in the national polls, the Cougars were able to gain the edge over every team ranked above them, including No. 3 Stanford, No. 10 Flordia State and No. 12 Princeton.   

“It was one of the best team performances I have seen from the team, especially in a big invitational like this,” Eyestone said.

The women also came away with a solid performance in the 5K race, finishing in sixth place with a score of 254 points.  

“The meet went really well,” head coach Patrick Shane said. “I felt really good about our team effort.  It was a lot better than last week team wise and our girls really stepped up.”

For the second week in a row, Morgan Haws finished second overall with a time of 17:02.  Also running well for the Cougars was junior Katy Andrews, who, in her first race of the season, finished 40th overall with a time of 17:42.  

“Morgan Haws showed how talented she already is and Katy Andrews came in with a clutch performance,” Shane said. “Both of their performances were very promising and as the year goes on that’s a great thing for us.”

Full stats from the Notre Dame Invitational can be found by clicking here.
 

ADDITIONAL QUOTES

Ed Eyestone

“We had three runners in the top six and our top five guys were only separated by 33 seconds. In a big invitational like this, that will win it for you every time.”  

Miles Batty

“The race had a bit of a rough start, with a lot of pushing and shoving and people tripping up and falling, but I think after about two miles we were able to relax and eventually come out on top.”

Patrick Shane

“Some of the girls have run three times in a row and that’s a tough thing to do but we had people step up and really help our team.”

Morgan Haws

“Our team got out really well and we stuck together and worked together as a team and it turned out really well. We were all really happy with the race.”

PROVO, Utah--The BYU men’s and women’s cross country teams are both back in action this week as they head to South Bend to participate in the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday.

Women

Coming off a 10th place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational, the women’s team is looking forward to their second shot in a big meet atmosphere against a number of ranked teams.

“This week has been a combination of recovering physically from last weekend and not overtraining to prepare for this next race,” women’s head coach Patrick Shane said.  “I’m excited to see how the team reacts and how they adapt to their individual race plans.”

Ranked teams participating in the race alongside No. 29 BYU include No. 2 New Mexico, No. 7 Florida State, No. 18 Arkansas, No. 22 Princeton and No. 28 Penn State. 

The Cougars will run 19 athletes at the invitational, including Morgan Haws who came in second place at the Griak Invitational last week with a time of 20:43.

The women’s race is a 5K and will begin at 4:15 p.m. EDT

Men

After commanding first place finishes in their first two meets, men’s head coach Ed Eyestone is looking forward to his team’s participation in their first big meet.

“This meet will be our first big test of the year,” Eyestone said. “There are at least three teams ranked ahead of us and seven teams ranked in the top 25, but where there is great competition there is great opportunity and our guys are in really good shape right now.  I have big expectations.”

Currently ranked 14th in the national polls, BYU will be competing against No. 3 Stanford, No. 10 Florida State and No. 12 Princeton.  Other ranked teams competing in South Bend include New Mexico (21), Notre Dame (23), Ohio State (25) and Eastern Kentucky (26).

The men’s race is a five-mile race and will begin at 5:00 p.m. EDT.

For complete results of the 56th annual Notre Dame Invitational, be sure to check out UND.com following the conclusion of the races.