Cougars claim 16th place at nationals

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – BYU men's cross country placed 16th at the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute Saturday.

"It was a solid effort for our men today," BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. "We came in ranked 15th and would have liked to improve on that, but we beat half the field and I'm proud of our guys."

The Cougars scored 437 points in the race. Colorado won with 65 points. Stanford came in second with 98 points. BYU's West Coast Conference foe Portland rounded out the top three with 175 points.

Meet results

For the second race in a row, senior Steve Flint led the way for the Cougars, finishing 67th overall with a time of 31:15.1 on the 10K course. Juniors Jonathan Nelson and Aaron Fletcher finished within seconds of each other, placing 98th and 102nd overall with times of 31:30.9 and 31:33.1. Senior Conner Peloquin and WCC Freshman of the Year Connor McMillan placed 127th and 129th overall with times of 31:47.8 and 31:48.3 to round out the scoring for BYU.

Junior Dylan Shawhan and senior Spencer Gardner finished 141st and 150th overall with times of 31:53.1 and 31:57.0. The race was Gardner's first since the Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 3, as an aggravated injury from before the season kept him out of the last three team meets.

With their 16th-place finish, the Cougars placed in the top 20 for the 13th time in Eyestone's 15-year tenure. The team has also now placed in the top 20 seven years in a row.