Cross Country to host Mountain Regional Friday

PROVO, Utah – The BYU men’s and women’s cross country programs continue their preparation for Nationals as they host the NCAA Mountain Regional at Timpanogos Golf Club on Friday, Nov. 12.

Meet Details

• Women’s 6K: 11 a.m. MST
• Men’s 10K: 12 p.m. MST
• Fan Attendance: Free Admission

Further details regarding the meet can be found here.

The 2021 Mountain Region Championship marks the seventh time the Cougars have hosted the event and the first since 2018.

Everything you need to know about the NCAA Division I Cross Country Regionals

• Nine regional championships are held across the country the week prior to Nationals.
• The top-two finishing teams at each regional automatically qualify for Nationals, making a total of 18 automatic qualifiers.
• The NCAA Division I Cross Country Subcommittee then selects 13 at-large teams to fill out the 31-team field at Nationals.
• Those teams finishing third and fourth at regionals have the highest likelihood of receiving an at-large selection to Nationals.
• The 2021 NCAA Cross Country National Championships will be hosted by Florida State at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida on Saturday, Nov. 20.

Men’s Preview

Despite dominating the West Coast Conference title meet, BYU men’s cross country fell to No. 8 when the USTFCCCA released its latest national rankings on Nov. 2.

The Mountain Regional provides the Cougars with a valuable opportunity to prepare for nationals against six nationally ranked teams. The region is home to the top two teams in the nation in No. 1 Northern Arizona and No. 2 Colorado. No. 11 Air Force, No. 21 Utah State, No. 22 Colorado State and No. 26 Southern Utah fill out the remainder of Friday’s challenging field.

BYU enters the postseason with one of the nation’s rising talents and some of the most consistent runners in Division I.

Sophomore Lucas Bons was named WCC Freshman of the Year following a fifth-place finish at the conference championship on Oct. 29. Bons has competed in only four meets on his collegiate career.

Casey Clinger finished in third at the WCC Championships, his fifth career top-3 finish. The junior from American Fork, Utah has finished top-10 in 11 of 13 career meets.

Three-time WCC champion and defending national champion Conner Mantz will look to extend his streak to eight straight first-place finishes in the season’s final meets. Mantz finished fourth in the 2019 Mountain Regional with a time of 30:32.6 in the men’s 10K.

While the 2020 regional meet was canceled due to COVID-19, the Cougars preceded a team national championship in 2019 with a third-place finish in the Mountain Region.

BYU has won the regional title twice, last doing so in 2011 behind a first-place finish from two-time All-American Miles Batty.

Women’s Preview

Also running away with the West Coast Conference title, BYU women’s cross country dropped a spot to No. 4 when the USTFCCCA released its latest national rankings on Nov. 2.

Among the top ranked teams at this year's Mountain Regional are No. 2 New Mexico, No. 3 Colorado and the fourth-ranked Cougars. Four other top-25 teams will also compete in Provo this week, including two more from the state of Utah, in No. 7 Utah, No. 18 Northern Arizona, No. 19 Colorado State and No. 22 Utah State. 

BYU prepares to race at Timpanogos in stride, having returned all seven runners from its 2020-21 national championship-winning team and placing six runners in the top-10 at the WCC Championships a week ago. 

The Cougars are led by Whittni Orton, who has finished first in each of the two meets that she's competed at this season: the FSU XC Open and the WCC Championships. The senior has nine top-10 finishes in her career.

Fellow seniors Anna Camp-Bennett and Aubrey Frentheway finished third and fourth, respectively, at the WCC Championships. Camp-Bennett also has nine career top-10 finishes and Frentheway has 10. 

Camp-Bennett, Frentheway and Orton finished 11th, 15th and 17th overall at the 2020-21 NCAA Cross Country Championships earlier this year. 

The 2020 regional meet was canceled due to COVID-19, but the Cougars won their first Mountain Region title in 2019 on their way to a national runner-up finish at Nationals.