BYU cross country teams take first and third in Oregon

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – The BYU men’s cross country team took first place with 17 points and the women’s team took third with 78 points at the Bill Dellinger Invitational on a rainy Friday morning.

The men competed in an 8,000-meter race and the women followed with a 6,000-meter race.

“It's not often that you go to a big meet and have a chance to sweep,” head coach Ed Eyestone said. "When it was late in the race I yelled to them, 'Let's perfect score this thing!' which happens when you get the top-five finishers and we came very close to doing that. I'm really excited with our performance."

The No. 6 men’s team was led to victory by Clayton Young (23:42.4) in first, Rory Linkletter (23:43.3) in second, Connor McMillan (23.44.0) in third and Casey Clinger (23.46.9) in fourth. BYU claimed seven of the top-10 spots and was just two points shy of a perfect score.

"I think it just shows the level that they're at," Eyestone said of the top-four finishers. "We depend on them and they certainly deliver any given week."

Eyestone also recognized Daniel Carney, saying he may have turned in the most impressive performance on the day. Carney was injured during the summer but following a few healthy weeks, finished seventh overall and fifth for the Cougars.

BYU took first against some of the nation’s top-rated teams including No. 2 Stanford, No. 8 Oregon and No. 18 Portland. This was the first time since 2012 that the host school Oregon did not win the Bill Dellinger Invitational.

“The ladies executed the race plan perfectly,” associate women’s head coach Diljeet Taylor said. "I'm really pleased with a third-place finish to two of the top-five teams. This is where we want to be at the end of September and we will continue to improve as the season progresses."

The No. 19 women’s team beat out No. 11 Washington to secure third place in the meet. Laura Young (19:22.3) finished first for the Cougars and took 11th in the race. Courtney Wayment (19:28.5) finished closely behind Young to take 13th, and Kristi Rush (19:39.4), Ashleigh Warner (19:41.3) and Olivia Hoj (19:42.7) finished together to take 17th, 18th and 19th, respectively.

The Cougars competed against some of the top teams in the nation, including No. 2 Oregon who took first at the meet and No. 5 Stanford who took second.

BYU, Oregon, Gonzaga, Washington, Oregon State, Stanford, Idaho, UC Santa Barbara, Portland and Cal Poly competed at the meet.

Following a two-week break, the Cougars will head to the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, Oct. 14.