Morgan Haws Places Second in 2011 NCAA Mountain Region Championships

PROVO, Utah -- BYU men's cross country claimed the 2011 NCAA Mountain Region Cross Country Championship at East Bay Golf Course on Saturday to earn a spot at nationals on Nov. 21 in Terre Haute, Ind. Miles Batty led the way for the Cougars, taking the individual title in the 10K race with a time of 30:09.3.

"Our number one goal was just to take it easy and run as a team, which we did," Batty said. "It was a good result and hopefully we can recover and get ready for nationals."

The BYU women had a strong performance finishing fourth as a team with a score of 140. Morgan Haws led the Cougars, taking second overall with a time of 20:53.2 in the 6K race. With her second place finish, Haws individually qualified for nationals.

"I’ve been looking forward to this race all season, especially knowing that this is how we qualify for nationals," Haws said. "I’ve been really anxious and nervous, but it was fun, especially running at home, and I’m really happy with how things turned out." 

The BYU men had a team score of 49 to edge Colorado, which finished six points behind with 55. Northern Arizona rounded out the top three with a score of 69. Batty — the 2011 West Coast Conference Champion — ran in the lead pack throughout and pulled ahead with the top three late in the race. He made a strong kick to outpace Southern Utah's Cameron Levins and claim the title.

"The team ran extremely well," men's head coach Ed Eyestone said. "This is the best team I have coached in my eleven years and I’m really proud of the boys and look forward to nationals."

Coming in behind Batty for BYU were Rex Shields (30:42.2) and Jared Ward (30:42.5), who finished eighth and ninth overall, repectively. Jason Witt (31.03.4) and Curtis Carr (31:03.7) rounded out BYU's top five and finished 15th and 16th overall, respectively.

Rounding the BYU women's top five were Katy Andrews (21:50.8, 25th overall), Candace Eddy (22:13.6, 35th), Stephanie Jensen-Bills (22:19.1) and Sarah Darby (22:20.9, 40th).

"It was an exciting race," women's head coach Patrick Shane said. "Morgan Haws ran her best race of the year. We’ll have to see how the rest of the races stack up to see if we’ll be able to go to nationals, but I’m excited for Morgan and we’ll keep our fingers crossed." 

Click here for results from the men's 10K

Click here for results from the women's 6K