AMES, Iowa — No. 4 BYU women's cross country won the program's first Big 12 Championship and the Cougars' first Big 12 title across all sports on Saturday morning at the Iowa State Cross Country Course.
No. 4 Cougars win first ever Big 12 Championship
No. 4 BYU women's cross country won the program's first Big 12 Championship and the Cougars' first Big 12 title across all sports on Saturday morning at the Iowa State Cross Country Course.
BYU won the conference championship with 35 points, besting No. 6 Oklahoma State's 39 points. The Cougars led the team score at every kilometer throughout the entire race, including the 5,000-meter mark in which they led by just one point with only a 1,000-meters to the finish. Working as a group, the Cougars extended their team lead to four points and crossed the finish line on top.
Lexy Halladay-Lowry led the BYU surge finishing in fourth with a time of 19:44.3. Freshman Jenna Hutchins crossed the line in sixth, 10 seconds behind Halladay-Lowry. Carmen Alder and Aubrey Frentheway finished in eighth and ninth, respecitvely, with Riley Chamberlain rounding out the scoring five in 10th place.
Halladay-Lowry, Hutchins, Alder, Fretheway, Chamberlain, Sadie Sargent and Carlee Hansen each earned All-Conference honors with top-15 finishes.
The conference championship marks the sixth of head coach Diljeet Taylor's career at BYU and fifth consecutive (2019-2022 WCC). It is also the 24th conference title in BYU women's cross country history.
Athlete |
Place |
Time |
Lexy Halladay-Lowry |
19:44.3 | 4th |
Jenna Hutchins | 19:54.5 | 6th |
Carmen Alder | 19:57.2 | 7th |
Aubrey Frentheway | 19:58.0 | 8th |
Riley Chamberlain | 20:10.4 | 10th |
Sadie Sargent | 20:22.7 | 13th |
Carlee Hansen | 20:22.7 | 14th |
Taylor Rohatinsky | 20:29.5 | 18th |
Jacey Farmer | 20:30.0 | 19th |
Anastaysia Davis | 20:30.3 | 20th |
"I love this team this year because there is no particular order. On any given day anyone can rise to the occasion. Lexy was our leader today and did a great job. Overall, this is a good stepping stone and a great way to enter the Big 12. We hope to represent the Big 12 well at nationals too."
Diljeet TaylorBYU Women's Cross Country Head Coach
Next up, the Cougars will travel to Lubbock, Texas for the NCAA Mountain Regional on Nov. 10 as they look to qualify for the NCAA championships.