Men's Cross Country 2022 Season Preview

PROVO, Utah – The BYU men's cross country program released its 2022 schedule and roster on Monday.

Both the men’s and women’s team will compete at the same events for all five regular season meets. The season begins Thursday, Sept. 1 with the UVU Invitational at Lakeside Sports Park in Orem.

Saturday, Sept. 3 will see the Cougars travel north to Logan, Utah for the Sagebrush Invitational. Utah State will host the competition at the Steve and Dona Reeder Cross Country Course.

The following week, BYU is set to compete at the Run Elite Invitational at Valley Regional Park in Taylorsville, Utah.

The team then travels to Stillwater, Oklahoma on Sept. 24 for the Cowboy Jamboree hosted by BYU’s future Big 12 partner Oklahoma State at the Oklahoma State University Cross Country Course. The meet will be at the same location as the NCAA Championships slated to take place on Saturday, Nov. 19. Oklahoma State is fresh off a third-place overall finish in last year’s men’s NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships.

After a nearly three-week hiatus, the team resumes competition Friday, Oct. 14 in Madison, Wisconsin at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational. The host, Wisconsin, finished 11th in the 2021 men’s NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships.

In the Cougars’ final conference championship meet as a member of the West Coast Conference, BYU will aim to claim its seventh-straight WCC conference title on Friday, Oct. 28 at Fernhill Park in Portland, Oregon.

The Cougars will once again be on the road for the NCAA Mountain Regional event on Friday, Nov. 11 in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the UNM North Golf Course.

BYU will look to qualify for the NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Saturday, Nov. 19.

The men enter the season with anticipation of capitalizing on experience gained by core returning members of the 2021 team who finished seventh at the NCAA Championships.

All-American senior Casey Clinger, who finished eighth in the 2021 NCAA Championships with a time of 28:55.7, headlines the 2022 roster. Fellow senior Brandon Garnica and All-American Weber State graduate transfer Christian Allen are also expected to make significant contributions. Garnica finished just outside the top 50 in last year’s NCAA National Championships with a 54th-place, 29.41.8 performance. Hailing from West Jordan, Utah, Allen placed 16th at the 2021 NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships for the Wildcats with a time of 29.17.0, good for a personal best.

Veteran Aidan Troutner returns after a 2021 sophomore campaign spent garnering All-WCC Second Team and All-Mountain Region honors. The junior from Provo clocked in at ninth last year in the NCAA Mountain Regional with a 30:04.2 race. Sophomore Kenneth Rooks aims to build upon his success with the track and field team last year, recording a personal best 8:22.56 (6th-place finish) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track and Field Championships in June.

Sophomore Joey Nokes aims to build on a strong freshman season after competing in both cross country and track and field last year. During the outdoor track and field season, he recorded a personal-best 28:37.97 in the 10,000-meters at the Stanford Invitational. After redshirting in 2021, freshman Zach Erikson will compete after contributing to the men’s track and field team last season. The former Idaho Falls High School product managed a 14:13.26 5000-meters time in the 2022 Husky Classic indoor meet.

Twin brothers Davin and Creed Thompson also return for their sophomore campaigns. Last season, Davin received All-Mountain Region honors after a 21st-place finish at the NCAA Mountain Regional.

*2021 All-American

On the newcomer side, aforementioned Weber State transfer Christian Allen is widely expected to be an immediate contributor. Highly-touted harrier Isaac Teeples highlights the incoming freshman class, joining the Cougars as a two-time individual and three-time team state champion in Washington. The freshman from Anoka High School set the Washington state and school record in the 5k with a time of 14:55.8 and capped off his high school career by being named First Team High School All-American at the 2021 Runninglane Cross Country Championships.

*2021 All-American