STILLWATER, Okla. — All-American performances from Aubrey Frentheway and Lexy Halladay-Lowry powered BYU women’s cross country to an eighth-place finish at the NCAA National Championships at Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course on Saturday morning.

FULL RESULTS

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"I'm proud of these women," said BYU women's cross country head coach Diljeet Taylor. "We would have had to have a perfect day to podium and we didn't have that today, but we did have women who fought and I'm really proud of that." 

With Saturday’s success, the Cougars posted their fifth-consecutive top-10 finish and sixth in seven years under the tutelage of head coach Diljeet Taylor. The program now has 24 all-time top-10 spots at nationals.

Frentheway (20:09.9) and Halladay-Lowry (20:12.2) earned All-American honors as they crossed at 32nd and 34th, respectively. This marks Frentheway’s third-career All-American citation and Halladay-Lowry’s first, giving BYU women’s cross country 66 all-time All-Americans. Fifteen All-Americans have come under Taylor’s tenure alone.

Sadie Sargent (20:25.1) and McKenna Lee-Hansen (20:25.4) gave the Cougars four top-100 finishers with respective results of 70th and 72nd.

Anastaysia Davis, Alissa Fielding and Carmen Alder rounded out BYU’s results from Stillwater, with each finishing under 21:30.

Frentheway started strong running in the front of the pack through the first 3000m before slipping to 21st at 4000m. Halladay-Lowry found herself in 46th to begin the race but ran a 2:41 split to crack 25th at 23rd at 4.93k. Sargent and Davis both jumped five spots over the last 1000m to finish strong.

NC State repeated as team national champion with its Katelyn Tuohy clinching the individual national title.

BYU’s 263 points proved enough to stave-off Virginia and Georgetown for eighth. The Cougars also finished ahead of Mountain Region rivals Colorado (11th) and Utah (12th). BYU came in just two points shy of Notre Dame’s 261 and six points off Northern Arizona’s 257.

PROVO, Utah – No. 3/No. 10 BYU men’s and women’s cross country prepare to compete in the NCAA Cross Country Championships at Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma this week.

The women received an at-large bid during the Selection Show last weekend, while the men earned an automatic bid to nationals after finishing second at the NCAA Mountain Regional in Albuquerque, New Mexico last week.

NCAA Cross Country Championships

• Saturday, November 19
• Stillwater, Oklahoma
• Greiner Family OSU XC Course
• Women’s 6k: 9:20am CST
• Men’s 10k: 10:10am CST
• Meet Information
• ESPNU
• Live Timing
• Tickets

Women’s Preview

BYU women’s cross country will aim to add to its string of remarkable success at the NCAA Championships, having not placed below second as a team since 2018 in a run that included the program’s fifth national title in 2020-21.

Three of the Cougars’ expected runners this Saturday return from the 2020-21 National Championship team, including Aubrey Frentheway, Lexy Halladay-Lowry and McKenna Lee-Hansen. Frentheway and Halladay-Lowry are fresh off third and fourth-place finishes at last Friday’s Mountain Regionals, both crossing the line at 20:04.9 in the 6k.

Frentheway, a two-time All-American, leads the Cougars into Saturday’s meet after having finished 15th and 38th in the 2020-21 and 2021 Nationals, respectively. The meet will mark Halladay-Lowry’s third appearance in the NCAA Championships.

McKenna Lee-Hansen rounds out BYU’s top finishers this season, having placed in the top 20 in each of her four meets in 2022. Of her two NCAA National Championship appearances thus far, her best finish came in the 2020-21 campaign - a 41st-place finish that helped contribute to the Cougars’ national championship.

Men’s Preview

BYU men’s cross country looks to win its second all-time team national championship and first since 2019 at Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course on Saturday. Last year, Cougar standout and now Olympian-hopeful Conner Mantz took home his second straight individual title as the team took 7th-place overall.

Coming off an 8th-place individual finish at nationals last season, senior Casey Clinger now leads BYU into Saturday’s meet and aims to become just the fourth Cougar to win an NCAA individual title. The first BYU athlete to be crowned victor of the highest collegiate level was head coach Ed Eyestone in 1984.

Graduate transfer Christian Allen joins Clinger as BYU’s two athletes on the roster to have received All-American honors. The West Jordan, Utah native crossed the line at 29:17.0 last year in his final race with Weber State to place 16th overall.

The meet will mark senior Brandon Garnica’s 25th career meet after having finished with a career-best finish at regionals, placing fifth.

Several BYU athletes could make their nationals debut this Saturday, including key contributors Davin Thompson, Joey Nokes and Kenneth Rooks.