No. 3 BYU secures second win of the season at Cowboy Jamboree, taking down No. 2 New Mexico

STILLWATER, Okla. - No. 3 BYU women's cross country triumphed at the Cowboy Jamboree, placing first with 32 points Saturday morning.

This marks the Cougars' second consecutive win at the Cowboy Jamboree, remaining undefeated in the season. The women bested their score from last year by two points and took down No. 2 New Mexico in the process. No. 15 Oklahoma State took second place with 64 points followed by No. 2 UNM, SMU and Oklahoma.

"I am very proud of the team effort," head coach Diljeet Taylor said. "This was a good September race for us to build off of. We had some things go really well and we got good data as we go back to a big block of training in October." 

Team Results

PLACE	TEAM	SCORE
1st	BYU	32
2nd	Oklahoma State	64
3rd	New Mexico	70
4th	SMU	124
5th	Oklahoma	158
6th	Adams State	173
7th	Stephen F. Austin	183
8th	New Mexico State	231
9th	TCU	252
10th	Lamar	332

The Cougars were led by sophomore Jane Hedengren, who placed third and crossed the line in 19 minutes and 32 seconds, just eight seconds behind Oklahoma State's Billah Jepkirui. Hedengren and New Mexico's Mercy Kirarei battled for the lead for the first 5,000-meters of the race as the sophomore has now finished in the top three in all six of her collegiate cross country races.

Senior Jenna Hutchins wasn't far behind and remained consistent in fifth place with 19:56.9, almost beating her personal 6k best of 19:54.5. Fellow senior Lexi Goff-Thompson improved from last year's ninth place finish, placing seventh with 20:07.3.

Nelah Roberts and Taylor Lovell ran the course within seconds of each other, claiming eighth and ninth place at 20:15.2 and 20:15.9, respectively. Transfer Karrie Baloga fought her way from 22nd after the first split to 10th place at the finish, clocking a 20:17.5 

In her collegiate cross country debut, freshman Lily Alder rounded out BYU's top seven finishers, crossing the finish line at 20:29.0 and taking 12th place. Noteably, junior Tessa Buswell ran a personal 6k best of 20:48.8, beating her previous record by 10 seconds.

Individual Results

PLACE	ATHLETE	SCHOOL	TIME
1st	Billah Jepkirui	Oklahoma State	19:24.4
2nd	Maureen Cherotich	Oklahoma State	19:28.6
3rd	Jane Hedengren	BYU	19:32.5
4th	Mercy Kirarei	New Mexico	19:51.1
5th	Jenna Hutchins	BYU	19:56.9
6th	Rose Mburu	SMU	20:02.3
7th	Lexi Goff-Thompson	BYU	20:07.3
8th	Nelah Roberts	BYU	20:15.2
9th	Taylor Lovell	BYU	20:15.9
10th	Karrie Baloga	BYU	20:17.5

For full results, visit Red Dirt.

Up Next
The Cougars will take on Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. on Friday, Oct. 16 at 8:00 a.m. MDT where they will be introduced to the course on which they hope to compete for a national title in late November.