BYU cross country set to compete in 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships

PROVO, Utah – No. 3/No. 10 BYU men’s and women’s cross country prepare to compete in the NCAA Cross Country Championships at Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma this week.

The men earned an automatic bid to nationals after finishing second at the NCAA Mountain Regional in Albuquerque, New Mexico last week, while the women received an at-large bid during the Selection Show last weekend.

NCAA Cross Country Championships

• Saturday, November 19
• Stillwater, Oklahoma
• Greiner Family OSU XC Course
• Women’s 6k: 9:20am CST
• Men’s 10k: 10:10am CST
• Meet Information
• ESPNU
• Live Timing
• Tickets

Men’s Preview

BYU men’s cross country looks to win its second all-time team national championship and first since 2019 at Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course on Saturday. Last year, Cougar standout and now Olympian-hopeful Conner Mantz took home his second straight individual title as the team took 7th-place overall.

Coming off an 8th-place individual finish at nationals last season, senior Casey Clinger now leads BYU into Saturday’s meet and aims to become just the fourth Cougar to win an NCAA individual title. The first BYU athlete to be crowned victor of the highest collegiate level was head coach Ed Eyestone in 1984.

Graduate transfer Christian Allen joins Clinger as BYU’s two athletes on the roster to have received All-American honors. The West Jordan, Utah native crossed the line at 29:17.0 last year in his final race with Weber State to place 16th overall.

The meet will mark senior Brandon Garnica’s 25th career meet after having finished with a career-best finish at regionals, placing fifth.

Several BYU athletes could make their nationals debut this Saturday, including key contributors Davin Thompson, Joey Nokes and Kenneth Rooks.

Women’s Preview

BYU women’s cross country will aim to add to its string of remarkable success at the NCAA Championships, having not placed below second as a team since 2018 in a run that included the program’s fifth national title in 2020-21.

Three of the Cougars’ expected runners this Saturday return from the 2020-21 National Championship team, including Aubrey Frentheway, Lexy Halladay-Lowry and McKenna Lee-Hansen. Frentheway and Halladay-Lowry are fresh off third and fourth-place finishes at last Friday’s Mountain Regionals, both crossing the line at 20:04.9 in the 6k.

Frentheway, a two-time All-American, leads the Cougars into Saturday’s meet after having finished 15th and 38th in the 2020-21 and 2021 Nationals, respectively. The meet will mark Halladay-Lowry’s third appearance in the NCAA Championships.

McKenna Lee-Hansen rounds out BYU’s top finishers this season, having placed in the top 20 in each of her four meets in 2022. Of her two NCAA National Championship appearances thus far, her best finish came in the 2020-21 campaign - a 41st-place finish that helped contribute to the Cougars’ national championship.