No. 9 BYU dominates Utah Valley Invitational, open season with a win

The Cougars claimed the top four spots en route to victory.

Author Ben Ward
No. 9 BYU dominates Utah Valley Invitational, open season with a winNo. 9 BYU dominates Utah Valley Invitational, open season with a win

OREM, Utah - The Cougars claimed the top four spots and logged only 17 points en route to winning the Utah Valley Invitational on Friday morning. 

"First race of the year, you always look for the positives and there was a lot of positives that I thought happened out there today," said head coach Ed Eyestone.

One of those positives was sophomore Tayvon Kitchen , who picked up the 2026 season right where he left off in 2025. He lead a pack of his teammates through the first mile before separating himself in the final two. Kitchen's 13:21.4 finish was good for an unofficial course record, and was 30 seconds faster than the next finisher.

“I think it's a good launching point, but there's a lot more to come. We still have a lot of workouts to do, a lot of miles to put under our belts and many more weeks until the racing really begins.”

BYU sophomore Tayvon Kitchen

"Obviously the expectation is that Tayvon be our low stick, and he was just that," Eyestone added. "I don't know that he surged as much as he just kept the pace hot and looked very good."

Junior Dalton Mortensen had a breakout race of his own, finishing in second with a time of 13:51.6. He ran in a group containing teammates Noah Jenkins and Hunter Kitchen for the first part of the race, before a strong kick separated him in the final stretch. It was Mortensen’s highest-ever finish in a collegiate race, as well as his first time being the second scorer for the Cougars.

"We wanted to pack it up through the first mile and a half," Mortensen said, "Then after that just see how fast we could run for the last half of the race. I'm happy with where I'm at and where the team is at, but we have plenty of work to do."

"That's Mortensens best peformance from him so far in a team uniform," Eyestone added, "coming in as our number two."

Jenkins and H. Kitchen would round out the top four for BYU, coming in at 13:58.7 and 14:01.4, respectively. Both runners out-kicked fifth place finisher Sila Kiplagat of Utah Valley University who led for the majority of the race.

Junior Jefferson McMullin also impressed in his collegiate cross country debut for the Cougars, with a 14:17.8 that earned him a seventh-place finish and made him BYU’s fifth and final scorer. McMullin is building off of an outdoor track season in which he placed sixth at the Big 12 championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

2026 Utah Valley Invitational
RUNNER SCHOOL TIME
Tayvon Kitchen BYU 13:21.4
Dalton Mortensen BYU 13:51.6
Noah Jenkins BYU 13:58.7
Hunter Kitchen BYU 14:01.4
Sila Kiplagat Utah Valley 14:02.4
Alex Hartshorn Utah Valley 14:13.4
Jefferson McMullin BYU 14:17.8
Kyle Steadman BYU 14:18.7
Trey Despain Utah Valley 14:22.0
Land Lambert BYU 14:24.2

The team’s 17 points earned them a meet victory, making it six straight years that the program won their opening meet.

UP NEXT
The Cougars will look to keep the momentum going as they travel to Terre Haute, Indiana, to compete in the John McNichols Invitational on Sep. 19. The 8,000-meters race will start at 7:05 MDT.