Earlysville, Va. – Carmen Alder and the No. 6 Cougars won the XC-23 Pre-Nationals Invitational Saturday morning at Panorama Farms in Virginia.
Alder, No. 6 Cougars win the XC-23 Pre-Nationals Invitational
Alder won the invitational in a personal-best 6,000-meter time of 19:36.2. She found the front of the pack early in the race and held the lead from the three kilometer marker until the finish line. Alder's win is the first individual title of her collegiate career and fifth top-10 finish.
Next to cross the finish line for BYU was freshman Jenna Hutchins in fifth at 19:58.3. Aubrey Frentheway was two seconds behind her in seventh. Lexy Halladay-Lowry and Riley Chamberlain rounded out the top 10 finishers in ninth and 10th.
BYU won its third-straight invitational of the 2023 season. Its 32 points bested No. 19 Arkansas' 90 points and No. 7 Virginia's 104. All five scoring runners for the Cougars placed in the top 10 individually.
"I'm super proud of our women and their work. I think there are a few more gains that we can make, but they have done a really good job these few weeks. I am going to keep the women focused on us and we will hopefully be great when we come back to Virginia in November."
Diljeet TaylorHead Coach| Athlete | Place | Time |
| Carmen Alder | 1st | 19:36.2 |
| Jenna Hutchins | 5th | 19:58.2 |
| Aubrey Frentheway | 7th | 20:00.6 |
| Lexy Halladay-Lowry | 9th | 20:04.0 |
| Riley Chamberlain | 10th | 20:06.0 |
| Sadie Sargent | 17th | 20:19.8 |
| Taylor Rohatinksy | 33rd | 20:45.6 |
| Jacey Harkins-Farmer | 36th | 20:47.7 |
Next up, the Cougars will head to their first-ever Big 12 championships scheduled for Oct. 28 in Ames, Iowa.