Half of BYU men's and women’s cross country teams will remain in Utah to compete at Utah Valley University, while the other half of the women head to Eugene, Ore., to compete in the Bill Dellinger Invitational this weekend.
The Utah Valley Invitational is scheduled to begin Oct. 3 at 5:15 p.m MST for the men and 5:45 p.m. for the women at the UVU Campus Cross Country Course. The Cougars will be competing against Idaho State, Weber State, University of Utah and Southern Utah University.
While cheering on their teammates in Utah, the rest of the women athletes will compete in Oregon at the Springfield Country Club, Oct. 4.
“This meet is highly competitive for us,” said BYU women’s head coach Patrick Shane. “With Oregon hosting the meet and being No. 1, this is a great opportunity for us to test ourselves against great competition.”
The women’s 6,000 meter race begins at 10:30 a.m. PST and BYU (No. 23) will face some intense competition from the following teams: Arkansas (No. 11) Colorado State (No. 14) Cal State Fullerton, Penn State, Portland, Texas-El Paso and Wake Forest.
After losing to CSU last year by six points at the Mountain West Conference Championships, BYU hopes to regain some lost momentum and establish a new order.
“Colorado State beat us last year,” said Shane, “but we have every intention of getting things turned around early this year. This is our chance to go head-to-head with a lot of good schools and get an early look on how they run. We’re really looking forward to this match-up.”
While the women’s team is split, some of the men’s team will also compete at the Utah Valley Invitational. The runners selected from the men’s team will be battling it out amongst themselves for the No. 12 spot on the men’s traveling team going to Pre-Nationals.
“This is a good chance to give some of these men the opportunity to get a little experience,” said BYU men’s cross country head coach Ed Eyestone. “They’ll be running to see who gets the final spot with our traveling team.”
Those on the men’s team not running this week continue practicing and preparing for the pre-national meet in Terre Haute, Ind. Oct. 18.