NCAA Regionals for Cross Country

PROVO -- With only one meet remaining before the NCAA Championships, the No. 2 and No. 3 regionally ranked BYU cross country teams travel to Fort Collins, Colo. to compete in the NCAA Regionals on Saturday.

“We’re very excited at the prospect of purchasing our ticket for Nationals,” said BYU men’s cross country head coach Ed Eyestone. “We’ve performed well enough this year that some of the pressure is off regarding whether or not we’ll qualify. I have confidence in our runners and their ability to perform at full strength.”

The BYU men’s team is currently ranked No. 2 and the women’s team is No. 3. Both teams will be competing against the top 15 United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association teams as well as some additional teams.

For the men those teams include the following, in order of regional ranking: Northern Arizona, Colorado, UTEP, Air Force, Weber State, New Mexico, Southern Utah, Utah State, Colorado State, Wyoming, Montana, Montana State, Texas Tech and New Mexico along with the University of Northern Colorado and Idaho State.

The women will compete against the following teams, in order of regional ranking: Texas Tech, New Mexico, Northern Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Utah State, Weber State, Colorado Sate, Nevada, Southern Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico State, Air Force and Montana as well as Idaho State, Montana State, UTEP and University of Northern Colorado.

Based on results from the Mountain West Conference Championships two weeks ago, the Cougar’s women’s team must defeat New Mexico in order to secure an automatic placement at Nationals in two weeks.

“As Nationals approach, each meet becomes more unique and important,” said BYU women’s cross country head coach Patrick Shane. “Our objective is to race against New Mexico toe-to-toe and beat out their fourth and fifth and runners. If we can execute our plan in the way I know we are able to, we will secure our spot.”

The women’s 6K is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. and the men’s 10K will begin at 11:45 p.m., both MST.