Mantz Earns National Athlete of the Week

NEW ORLEANS, La. — The United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) named BYU’s Conner Mantz National Athlete of the Week on Tuesday.

Mantz won the individual meet title for the Cougars at the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 28, in Springfield, Oregon. The race featured five other ranked teams in No. 7 Portland, No. 11 Oregon, No. 24 UCLA, No. 27 Air Force and No. 29 Villanova.

The BYU sophomore pulled away over the final portion of the race and beat UCLA’s Robert Brandt by nearly two seconds. Mantz covered the 8K tract in 23:24.7, matching his personal record at the distance from the West Coast Conference Championships last year.

He has won each meet he’s competed in this season, as he took first at the BYU Autumn Classic in the men’s 7k with a time of 21:12.3.

Mantz hasn’t 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.

This is the second year in a row that a male athlete from BYU has been named National Athlete of the Week during the cross country season. Clayton Young nabbed the honor last year on October 8.