13 Cougars Earn WCC All-Academic Honors

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — The West Coast Conference named 13 Cougars to the 2019 Cross Country All-Academic Team on Wednesday.

The 2019 National Champion BYU men had three athletes placed on the All-Academic team, featuring Jacob Heslington, Conner Mantz and Matt Owens. Brandon Garnica and Michael Ottesen were also pegged as All-Academic honorable mentions. 

The Cougars had the most members on the All-Academic team with three. Mantz placed third at the 2019 NCAA National Championships and earned All-America honors en route to helping the men’s team to its first national title in program history. Heslington placed 21st at the national meet and received All-America recognition. Owens and Garnica also were in the BYU top-five and aided the team in its title run. Ottesen also competed at the national meet and earned All-Region honors at the 2019 NCAA Mountain Region Championships.

Seniors Erica Birk-Jarvis and Olivia Hoj earned All-Academic honors. The Cougars had a bevy of All-Academic honorable mentions with Amanda Erickson, Alissa Fielding, Aubrey Frentheway, Kate Hunter, McKenna Lee and Rachel Morrin all earning recognition. 

Both Birk-Jarvis and Hoj were critical in bringing the BYU women to its best national finish since 2003 as national runner-ups. Birk-Jarvis, a three-time cross country All-American, capped off her senior season finishing sixth at nationals after placing seventh the year before. She helped the Cougars win the 2019 NCAA Mountain Region Championships and the WCC title. Additionally, she earned NCAA Mountain Region First-Team honors and WCC First-Team recognition. Hoj improved from 86th-place at the national meet in 2018 to 56th-place at this season’s national meet. She was named to the NCAA Mountain Region First Team in addition to the WCC First Team.