Men's cross country wins, women take third at Cowboy Jamboree

STILLWATER, Okla. — Powered by the running of Casey Clinger and Aubrey Frentheway, BYU men’s and women’s cross country posted team podium finishes against a challenging field at the 84th Cowboy Jamboree on Saturday morning at the Oklahoma State University Cross Country Course.

Men's Recap

The No. 4 men’s team claimed a first-place finish in the 8,000-meter race on Saturday morning, fielding ten harriers in competition that included 15 teams ranked in the USTFCCCA’s latest top-30 poll.

“The strongest teams in the country were here today,” said BYU men’s cross country head coach Ed Eyestone. “Casey Clinger continued to show his leadership being our first guy to finish at seventh. Joey Nokes had a phenomenal race, we knew he was ready for this based on what he’s been showing in workouts. We’re also super pleased with Christian Allen for his first race in a Cougar uniform.”

The Cougars finished with 75 total points, ahead of No. 3 Stanford (101), No. 1 Northern Arizona (110) and No. 2 Oklahoma State (118).

The well-balanced team victory was led by three-time All-American Casey Clinger’s seventh-place finish, crossing the line at 23:30.0. Sophomore Joey Nokes had a breakout race, registering a personal best in the 8k at 23:36.1 for the second top-10 finish of his collegiate career.

“Joey demonstrated through track season last year that great things awaited him and it was nice to see him put it together in competition,” said Eyestone.

Accomplished Weber State graduate transfer and two-time All-American Christian Allen completed his first race in a Cougar uniform, finishing 11th with a time of 23:39.2. The Cougars’ top five was rounded out with sophomore twin brothers Davin Thompson (23:46.7) and Creed Thompson (23:51.6) finishing 20th and 27th, respectively.

BYU aims to return to action once again on the Oklahoma State University Cross Country Course for the NCAA Championships held in Stillwater on Nov. 19.

Women's Recap

No. 7 BYU women’s cross country finished third in Saturday’s women’s 6,000-meter race as it totaled a score of 113 and finished ahead of No. 3 Colorado and No. 5 Stanford.

Aubrey Frentheway led the charge for the Cougars, crossing the finish at fourth overall with a time of 20:23.1. The senior from Cheyenne, Wyo. maintained her spot at the front of the pack throughout the race, even holding a lead with Everlyn Kemboi of Utah Valley at the 4k mark. Despite slipping to fourth at the finish, Frentheway preserved a top-5 finish as she fended-off Mountain Region rivals Elise Stearns and Annika Reiss of Northern Arizona.

Lexy Halladay-Lowry and McKenna Lee-Hansen came in next for the Cougars with top-20 times of 20:42.6 and 20:46.7, respectively.

Carmen Alder clocked a career-best 6k time of 21:08.6 to finish 36th in her fifth collegiate meet. Despite competing in their first collegiate 6k, freshmen Riley Chamberlain (21:12.3) and Taylor Rohatinsky (21:16.0) finished-off BYU’s scoring at 42nd and 48th, respectively.

The Cougars’ third-place finish came against 10 of the top-30 teams in the country and on a course where they will compete for the NCAA National Championship on Nov. 19.

After two weeks off, both BYU teams will return to action at the Nuttycombe Invitational at Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisconsin on Oct. 14.