PROVO, Utah - BYU cross country athlete Casey Clinger was named the USTFCCCA Athlete of the Week as well as Big 12 Runner of the Week Tuesday afternoon.
"I’m incredibly grateful to receive these awards and excited as we head into championship season," said Clinger. "We have been putting in great work as a team and we are ready to do some big things at Big 12's and nationals."
The senior from American Fork, Utah earned the recognition after taking first overall at the 2024 Bill Dellinger Invitational last Friday. Clinger crossed the finish line of the 8k race in 22:54.8 course. The Pine Ridge Golf Club hosted the event located just outside Eugene, Oregon. The Cougars as whole earned a perfect score, accruing 15 points through with their top-five finishers.
Clinger has won the overall individual victory twice this season, the prior coming at BYU's Atumn Classic on September 23.. In the more national space, he placed fourth overall at the 2024 Nuttycombe Invitational held in Madison, Wisconsin on September 27. Clinger finished that race in 23:10.4.
"Casey’s athlete of the week awards are a great reflection of not only his success but also the team’s,” said assistant coach Ryan Waite. “He said in a post race interview that any one of our top five could have won that race on a given day and he meant it. His teammates challenged him all the way to the line and after the race he acknowledged that he doubted during the race whether or not he would win individually. All of our top five broke the previous course record held by 2021 NCAA 5000 meter champion and 2022 USATF 1500 meter champion Cooper Teare. Casey is running at an extremely high level right now for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest is he is running for his teammates. He is pushing and pulling them in training and racing while they do the same for him. We’re super proud of Casey for these honors, but we are just as proud about how he is leading the team this year.”
The Cougars will compete at the 2024 Big 12 Cross Country Championships at the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course in Waco, Texas on November 1st.