PROVO, Utah - Andrea Nelson Harrison led the BYU women to the Autumn Classic title Saturday with a final score of 37 points, beating conference rival Portland by two points.

BYU also finished ahead of No. 24 Weber State and Idaho State, who took home third and fourth place.

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Harrison finished fifth overall with Lindsey Sowards Nielson not far behind in sixth. Nicole Nielsen took seventh, while Natalie Shields and Sarah Yingling earned ninth and 10th. BYU’s top five runners placed in the top 10 slots.

“This is just the beginning. We have learned a lot but we have big goals and have more to improve on,” Harrison said. “We have worked so hard in our practices and we are looking forward to seeing how that will help us for the rest of the season.”

Maren Fassmann beat out two Portland runners for the crucial 11th-place position.

“Maren Fassmann displaced two Portland runners and without her it would have been a tie,” BYU coach Patrick Shane said. “Maren definitely was a key performer today and the top six were excellent.”

The Cougars had a race plan to “run as one,” clustering the girls in groups of five to run together throughout the race.

“Our race plan worked out and was carried out well because we had three runners go 5, 6, 7, and then three more go 9, 10, 11 which was crucial to our win," Shane said.

BYU will race again on Sept. 27 in Indiana at the Notre Dame Invitational.

The Cougar women’s cross country team will host the BYU Autumn Classic at home on Saturday. The team is racing the 5k at 10:50 a.m. at the Clarence F. Robison Track and Field Complex on campus. BYU welcomes No. 24 Weber State, the University of Portland and Idaho State.

“This is the best competition we have had in 15 years for this invitational,” said head coach Patrick Shane. “We know that we have good competition, we are at home and we are motivated to show that we are a better team than we were last year.”

After leading the team throughout the 2012 season as a freshman, some of the pressure will be off Natalie Shields this season. With matured returners and a talented recruiting class, BYU is expected to have a strong showing this weekend. Standout performances are anticipated from Rachel Stewart, Lindsey Sowards Nielson, Andrea Nelson Harrison, Maren Fassmann, Nicole Nielsen, Sarah Yingling, Angela Ellsworth and Emily Rich.

“I am really excited about this year because we are a very different team than we were a year ago,” Shane said.

The Autumn Classic is BYU’s only home cross country meet of the season. 

Additional meet information can be found here. 

A course map can be found here.