PROVO, Utah – Coming off its first conference championship in eight years, BYU women’s cross country hopes to build of that momentum at the Mountain Region Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Friday.
“Winning the conference championship was a big boost,” BYU head coach Patrick Shane said. “Accomplishing that goal will be a springboard in to helping us take that momentum, have great performances and finish out the year with checks next to all of our goals.”
The Cougars come in to the race with the hope to earn a berth at the NCAA Championships next weekend. Placing in the top two would earn them an automatic berth, however, the Mountain Region boasts two teams ranked in the top 12 of the latest USTFCCCA rankings.
“Realistically we need to be third,” Shane said. “The top two teams are top-ten teams, and they are likely to be one and two. I think we are the third-best team. We can’t afford to be fourth.”
BYU will be led in the 6K race by Andrea Nelson Harrison and Carrie Jube. Jube is fresh off a second-place finish at the WCC Championships with Harrison placing fourth. Last season the Cougars finished third overall at region led by Harrison’s ninth-place finish.
“If we go out and run well and have a solid race, we are going to be third, and that will put us in the position to be selected as one of the thirteen at-large teams to go to nationals.” Shane said.
Jube, Harrison, Makenna Smith, Jennica Redd, Kelsey Brown, McKenzie Weir and Alyssa Steed will make up the seven-member BYU team with Marren Haneberg as an alternate.
The women’s race will begin at 12 p.m. MST at the University of New Mexico’s North Golf Course. Results can be found on New Mexico’s athletic website, GoLobos.com.