BYU cross country set to defend national titles in Tallahassee

PROVO, Utah — BYU men's and women's cross country prepare to compete in the NCAA Cross Country Championships at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida this week. 

The men earned an automatic bid to nationals after winning the NCAA Mountain Regional at Timpanogos Golf Club in Provo last week, while the women, who finished third at the regional, received an at-large bid during the Selection Show.

NCAA Cross Country Championships

• Saturday, Nov. 20
• Tallahassee, Florida
• Apalachee Regional Park
• Women's 6K: 10:20am EST
• Men's 10K: 11:10am EST
• Meet Information
• ESPNU
• Live Timing
• Tickets

Men's Preview

BYU men’s cross country will compete for its second national title in three years at Apalachee Regional Park on Saturday. The Cougars last came away with the trophy in 2019. Sophomore Conner Mantz led the Cougars with a third-place individual finish as he clocked a men’s 10k time of 30:40.0. Danny Carney and Jacob Heslington followed close behind Mantz and joined him as 2019 All-Americans.

While the 2019 title was the program’s first national championship, the Cougars have twice finished as runners-up and 10 times in the top-5.

Mantz will seek to defend his 2020-21 individual national title on Saturday. The senior from Smithfield, Utah clocked a 29:26.1 to finish first among individuals, joining head coach Ed Eyestone (1984) and Josh Rohatinsky (2006) as the third athlete in program history to be crowned individual national champion.

Mantz is currently the only BYU men’s cross country athlete to ever record three career top-10 finishes at nationals. As a freshman in 2018, Mantz clocked his current career-best 10k time with a 29:17.1 at the NCAAs.

The following are quotes from Conner Mantz given during the NCAA Cross Country National Championships Press Conference on Tuesday, Nov. 16.

On returning for his senior season

It’s cool to be compared to other people who have been here as athletes like Coach Eyestone or Jared Ward or Josh Rohatinsky. I came back for another season to give back to a program that built me up to be as good as an athlete as I’ve been. I wanted to come back and compete with the guys for one final season.

Has the season been everything I expected? Not entirely. I don’t know what I expected heading into the season. It’s been a great season. It’s been a lot of fun to grow with a new team. We have a few different guys this year than we did last year, and it just changed the whole dynamic. It’s been a cool thing to be a part of the whole growth as a team that we’ve had this past season.

On his preparation for nationals this season

I think sometimes at the beginning of the season, it’s easy to get doubts because you’re not used to racing. When you take some time off, the whole dynamic that comes with racing just switches up. You don’t feel great during those first few races. I had a little bit of misfortune early this season with getting sick a couple of times. I’ve been healthy ever since the week of Pre-Nationals. It’s been nice to have some uninterrupted training. I’m excited to come out and compete again.

On the speed of the course and conditions at Apalachee Regional Park

I feel like the course pushes you and feeds you into running quick on the down hills and continuing quick on some of those up-hills. I expect it to be a very fast race.

I think fitness is fitness. Whether you’re training for a low 10k that’s going to be in the mud or training for a 10k that’s going to be quick, you train the same. I do think this year we’ve done more fast workouts with some 800s on the grass. We’re trying to be prepared for the fast turnover that comes with this course.

I was very surprised when I ran the course at Pre-Nationals in October, how quick we were running, how quick it felt and how we were able to keep such a fast pace through the whole race. As far as the heat training goes, we’ve done a few things. We try to hit the sauna occasionally. Coach Eyestone’s a big believer in that the fittest team will go out there and compete and do their best. He has more experience as an athlete than most of these teams do and he has an insane amount of experience as a coach.

Women's Preview

BYU looks to defend its 2020-21 National Championship this week with six of the seven runners from that championship team slated to compete on Saturday. Whittni Orton, Anna Camp-Bennett, Aubrey Frentheway, Lexy Halladay, McKenna Lee, Sara Musselman and Anna Martin will race for the Cougars.

Camp-Bennett and Frentheway led BYU in the NCAA Mountain Regional last Friday, placing sixth and seventh, respectively. Musselman and Martin also joined the pair in the top-25, finishing 20th and 24th to give the Cougars four All-Region honorees.

At the 2020-21 NCAA Championships held earlier this year, four BYU runners finished in the top-40 on its way to the program's fifth national title and first since 2002. The Cougars were paced by Camp-Bennett (11), Frentheway (15) and Orton (17).

On the women's side, schools have won back-to-back championships 11 times in NCAA history, including a three-peat by Stanford from 2005-2007 and six-year run by Villanova from 1989-1994. The Cougars accomplished the feat under head coach Patrick Shane, recently inducted into the BYU Athletics Hall of Fame, in 2001 and 2002.