Women Take First, Men Second at Bill Dellinger Invitational

Results

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — The BYU women’s cross country team claimed first at the Bill Dellinger Invitational while the men’s team took second Saturday at Pine Ridge Golf Club.

Two Cougars took home the individual meet titles in Conner Mantz and Whittni Orton. Mantz ran 23:24.7 in the men’s 8k and Orton finished with a time of 19:25.8 in the women’s 6k.

The women placed first with a score of 35 — 46 points lower than the second-place team, Boise State. The women had three of the top four finishers in the race in Orton, Erica Birk-Jarvis and Courtney Wayment. The men narrowly missed first-place with a score of 60, while No. 11 Oregon grabbed the top spot with 54 points.

“We’re pleased with the result,” BYU associate director of cross country and track and field Diljeet Taylor said. “The main focus of today was being in a competitive mindset and getting tougher and we were able to do that. We still have some things to work on, but it’s still September, and we have three weeks ahead of pre-nationals to get some good training in. Always nice to compete and get tougher and come away with a win.”

In their third race of the season, the women posted a dominant showing with the first-place finish by Orton (19:25.8) and Birk-Jarvis who followed close behind to pick up second with a time of 19:30.8. Wayment followed in fourth (19:42.7), as Olivia Hoj came in 12th (20:11.3) and Aubrey Frentheway came in 18th (20:24.5) to put five Cougars in the top-20. Sara Musselman (20:26.5), Anna Camp (20:31.5), Anastaysia Davis (20:36.1), Alissa Fielding (20:36.2), Maddie Cannon (20:42.6) and Sadie Sargent (20:46.8) placed 21st, 24th, 30th, 31st, 37th and 40th, respectively, to round out the top-40. Ember Stratton (20:47.5), Kate Hunter (20:48.5), McKenna Lee (20:53.7), Rachel Morrin (21:13.8) and Amanda Erickson (21:21.0) finished 41st, 42nd, 49th, 77th and 84th, respectively, to round out the Cougars’ finish. 

Taylor also commented on the depth of the team, saying that she thought the women ran well together and finished strong, which has been a point of emphasis in practice this season. 

Women’s Team Notables

• The women’s squad has won their first three meets of the season in three of the last four years.
• BYU earned five of the top 20 spots
• Orton, Birk-Jarvis, Frentheway, Davis, Fielding, Sargent, Stratten and Morrin posted career-bests in the 6k today

For the men, Mantz took home first with a time of 23:24.7 and Jacob Heslington placed eighth in 23:39.2 for the Cougars. The next two to finish for BYU were Michael Ottesen (23:55.3) and Brandon Garnica (23:57.0) who placed 15th and 16th, respectively.

“We’re feeling pretty good, we ran well as a team,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “Conner did a great job leading the pack, our guys ran really hard. We didn’t have a great last mile, Oregon sort of slipped in during that last mile. I’m still pleased with our depth, though, our three through seven guys were very close to each other. We know we have a few things to work on before the championship meets, so we’ll see get back to working harder.”

Zac Jacklin (23:58.4, 20th) made five Cougars in the top-20 as Matt Owens (24:00.1), Kramer Morton (24:06.4), Garrett Marsing (24:09.7), Daniel Carney (24:09.9) and Connor Weaver (24:14.8) all followed close behind to finish 23rd, 26th, 27th, 28th, and 30th, respectively. Talem Franco (24:20.4), Ethan Cannon (24:38.4), Brayden McLelland (25:29.0) and Will Handley (26:27.8) placed 38th, 60th, 107th and 136th for BYU as well.

Eyestone also mentioned the need to close the gap between the three through seven runners and their top-two, saying that they want them to finish closer to Mantz than they did today. He was also optimistic that they would be able to work and improve in the coming weeks as they prepare for the conference, regional and national championship meets ahead.

Men’s Team Notables

• Mantz has not finished outside of the top-10 in any cross country race that he’s competed in at BYU, including last year’s NCAA Championship meet
• The men earned five of the top-20 spots
• Heslington, Ottesen, Garnica, Jacklin, Owens, Marsing, Weaver and Franco all ran career-bests in the 8k 

Both the men’s and women’s team take a three-week break before returning to action at the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Saturday, Oct. 19.