BYU cross country teams take first in Logan

LOGAN, Utah – The BYU men’s and women’s cross country teams took first place Friday at the Steven Reeder Memorial Cross Country Invitational in Logan, Utah, at Utah State University.

For the third meet in a row, the teams finished first place in their respective races. The No. 3 men’s team finished on top with a perfect score of 15 and the No. 15 women’s team also placed first with a score of 22.

On the men’s side, BYU placed first through seventh in the men’s 8k race. The top five runners from each school receive points based on the place finished. Rory Linkletter took first with a time of 28:21 and Brayden McLelland took second with the same time of 28:21. Following Linkletter and McLelland, Spencer Hanson finished third (28:23) and Nicolas Montanez in fourth with the same time of 28:23.

Daniel Carney, Mitchell Briggs, and Jonathon Harper finished seventh, eighth, and tenth in the race overall. Unattached athletes finished fifth, sixth, and ninth allowing BYU to take the top seven spots. Carney completed the race with a time of 28:37, Briggs had a time of 28:37 and Jonathon Harper came in with a time of 28:44. Erik Harris came in 14th overall and eighth for BYU with a time of 29:03. Utah State (50) and Westminster College (79) finished behind the BYU men’s team.

BYU track and field and cross country director of operations Issac Wood said the plan for the men’s team was to use the race as a tempo run and they executed the plan well. He said they all worked together as a pack and finished the race as they had planned.

On the women’s side, Alice Jensen and Emma Gee finished in first and second place overall in the 5k race. Jensen had a time of 18:26 and Gee had a time of 18:49. Coming in third for BYU and fourth overall was Kelsey Braithwaite with a time of 19:08. Jennica Barrow finished fourth for the Cougars and sixth overall with a close time of 19:09. Sophomore Josey Hedquist finished the race for BYU coming in ninth overall and fifth for the Cougars with a time of 19:32.

Utah State finished second with a score of 46, No. 10 Boise State finished third with a score of 58 and Westminster came in fourth with a score of 99.

“Both teams did an excellent job of controlling the races,” said BYU women’s cross country coach Diljeet Taylor. “The girls really showed us what they can do by working together and I’m really proud of them. It was a great preview of the region championship course.”

The teams will head to Madison, Wisconsin, next week to compete in the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational on Oct. 14 at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course.