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.

Author Mayci Taylor
WXC Wins Big 12WXC Wins Big 12

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.

Women's Cross Country at Big 12 Championships
Coach Taylor congratulates team at Big 12
Lead pack at WXC Big 12
Sadie Sargent embraces teammates at Big 12

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
Jacey Farmer at Big 12
Lexy Halladay-Lowry celebrates at Big 12
Riley, Sadie and Taylor
Carlee Hansen celebrates at Big 12

 

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.