No. 3 BYU to compete for a national championship Saturday morning

PROVO, Utah — No. 3 BYU women's cross country will compete for an NCAA national championship Saturday morning in Earlysville, Virginia on ESPNU.

The Cougars enter the final meet of the 2023 season with four wins and one second-place finish. Most notably, the program won BYU's first Big 12 championship across all sports. Seven women placed in the top 15 to earn All-Big 12 honors. 

This week, the women will return to Panorama farms where they won the XC-23 Pre-Nationals Invitational last month. Carmen Alder led the charge for the Cougars, winning the meet individually with a time of 19:36.2. The 6,000-meter grass course will remain the same as BYU seeks to benefit from its prior experience on the course. 

The NCAA has selected a 31 team field to compete at the national championship meet. No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 2 NC State, No. 3 BYU, No. 4 Oklahoma State and No. 5 Stanford round out the top five teams. The Big 12 will be represented by No. 3 BYU, No. 4 Oklahoma State and No. 16 Iowa State. 

The BYU women qualify for the national championship race for the eighth-straight season under head coach Diljeet Taylor. 

Notes

• BYU has won five national championships (1997, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2020-21)
• Individual national champions: Whittni Orton (2021)
• Diljeet Taylor has coached seven athletes to 15 All-America honors during her time at BYU

Saturday, Nov. 18 8:20 a.m. MT