PROVO, Utah – The BYU men’s and women’s cross country teams are prepping for the Steven Reeder Memorial Cross Country Invitational which will take place in Logan, Utah, this Friday. The Cougars will take on in-state competition from Utah State, Weber State and Westminster College, and will also compete against Boise State.
The men’s team currently sits in third place nationally in the USTFCCCA coaches poll, and looks forward to using this weekend’s competition as a way to prepare for not only the regional meet which will take place at the same course at the beginning of November but also for the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational which will be on October 14.
“We’re going into this race as running for a time trial,” men’s cross country head coach Ed Eyestone said. “We want to see the course that the region meet will be at, but we still want to win the race, and we want to do it in a controlled manner. We have a very important race a week from Friday that we are ultimately focusing on gearing up for.”
Coach Eyestone will be running nine athletes that competed at the Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational two weeks ago. Seniors Nicolas Montanez and Mitchell Briggs, juniors Daniel Carney, Jonathan Harper and Spencer Hanson, and sophomores Rory Linkletter, Brayden McLelland, Erik Harris and Dallin Farnsworth will all suit up for the Cougars.
The women’s cross country team currently claims 15th place in the national polls. Women’s head coach Diljeet Taylor said that she anticipates this meet being a good chance for her team to familiarize themselves with the region competition course but also to prepare for the Wisconsin meet.
“We have worked pretty hard this week to get ready for Wisconsin, so most of the girls will just come to get a preview of the course,” Coach Taylor said. “This week we have also really worked hard to gear up for Wisconsin, so much of this race will be in preparation for that.”
Coach Taylor will only race five athletes, four of which will also be competing in Wisconsin. Senior Kelsey Braithwaite and sophomores Emma Gee, Niki Barrow, Alice Jensen and Josey Hedquist will all be running for the Cougars in Logan.
For additional information about this weekend’s meet and for live results, follow the official BYU track and field and cross country twitter account at @BYUTFXC.