Orton, Mantz Sweep WCC Runners of the Week

SAN BRUNO, Calif. – The West Coast Conference awarded BYU's Whittni Orton and Conner Mantz as its women's and men’s Runners of the Week on Tuesday. 

Female Runner of the Week:
Orton won the women’s 6K and led the No. 6 BYU women’s team to a win at the Bill Dellinger Invitational this past weekend in Springfield Oregon. The Cougars had a dominant win with 35 points — 46 points lower than the second-place team. 

The BYU junior held her spot in first for the entire race and finished with a career-best time of 19:25.8. This was the best individual and team finish at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in BYU history. 

The squad finished ahead of 12 other schools, including No. 10 Oregon, No. 13 Boise State, No. 14 Furman and No. 24 UCLA. This is BYU's third-straight win of the 2019 season. 

Male Runner of the Week:
Mantz won the Bill Dellinger Invitational individual title with a time of 23:24.7 in the men's 8k. He outdueled UCLA's Robert Brandt at the finish, as they had been going back and forth for the whole race. Mantz led the pack with Brandt for the entirety of the meet, which featured multiple ranked teams. 

Mantz beat every runner from No. 7 Portland, No. 11 Oregon, No. 24 UCLA, No. 27 Air Force, No. 29 Villanova, RV Boise State, RV Texas and RV Furman. It is the second-straight WCC Runner of the Week honor of the season for Mantz.

The sophomore All-American also earned National Athlete of the Week honors from the USTFCCCA on Monday
 

The full release can be found at wccsports.com.