BYU became only the fifth team ever to win both the men's and women's NCAA cross-country championships in the same year Saturday morning in Wisconsin. First, BYU won the women's race and then BYU won the men's race.
The only other schools to complete the his-and-hers double are Colorado in 2004, Stanford in 1996 and 2003, and Wisconsin in 1985.
The men's and women's teams used opposite strategies to win. The women ran patiently and rallied in the final 1.5 kilometers or so of the race. They finished with 147 points, followed by West Virginia 164, Providence 183, Northern Arizona 206 and Oregon 210 (Utah, ranked No. 9 in the national poll, finished 19th). With the injured Lexy Lowry leading the way, the Cougars placed five runners in the top 50.
The BYU men led from start to finish, opening up a huge lead right out of the gate, and then withstood a frantic rally from several rival teams in the last kilometer. They finished with 124 points, followed by Iowa State 137, Arkansas 202, Wisconsin 212 and Northern Arizona 237.
With Casey Clinger leading the way, the Cougars placed five runners in a field of more than 250 athletes. Clinger, a senior from American Fork, was sixth overall, covering the 10,000-meter course in 28:45.1. He was followed by teammates Creed Thompson (12th), Joey Nokes (31st), Lucas Bons (39th) and Davin Thompson (50th), with only a 48-second spread between the first and fifth runner. Even BYU's sixth and seventh runners, James Corrigan and Aidan Troutner, placed among the top 80.
BYU runners celebrate winning a national championship in the NCAA men's cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
Lowry, a rising young All-American steeplechaser on the track, finished 14th overall, covering the 6,000-meter course in 19:48.4. She was followed by teammates Riley Chamberlain (31st), Carmen Alder (39th), Taylor Rohatinsky (43rd) and Carlee Hansen (65th – but 49th against runners representing teams), with a 33-second spread from first to fifth. BYU's sixth and seventh runners, Nelah Roberts and Taylor Lovell, finished 83rd and 88th.
Hansen was the unsung hero of the team. As coach Diljeet Taylor told ESPN before the race, "In this sport, the fifth-place runner is as important as the first-place runner."
Only the top five of each team's seven runners count in the team scoring. Hansen, a North Carolina transfer from Woods Cross High, posted the highest finish by far among any team's fifth runner.
BYU trailed in the team race until about 5,000 meters and closed strong.
"I didn't feel good until 4k," said Taylor. "I felt like we were really locked in. At that point, I knew they would be able to close. We got out with urgency, we settled in the middle, and then we finished with urgency. That was the race plan. I trusted that they had the fitness to close hard. Our training and the work they had done, prepared them to close hard."
It's a tribute to the depth of Taylor's team that the Cougars won the race despite injuries to their top performers the last three weeks. Jenna Hutchins, the team's second runner most of the season, was forced to miss the race due to a stress injury. And Lowry, the team's No. 1 runner, has been injured since the Big 12 Conference championships three weeks ago.
"I had something wrong with my hip and then after conference I couldn't walk so we had to take nine days off completely – like no running," she explained after the race. "I just spent three hours in the pool every single day, and, yeah, so I was a mermaid for nine hours nine days after conference and I ran a few days leading up to this race."
After watching the women win their race, BYU men's coach Ed Eyestone hoped it would boost his men's team. "Our women did a wonderful job," said the coach. "They set the table for us."
Eyestone held up signs during the race to show his runners where they stood in the team race. In the early stages of the race, they were up by as much as a whopping 65 points. This worried Eyestone – had they gone out too fast?
"I was a little concerned," he said, "But then I saw the splits and (the pace) was conservative. All of sudden we got a big lead."
By the end of the race, BYU's 65-point lead had been cut to 13. "We got out hard and hung on by our fingernails," said the coach.
BYU's men's and women's teams were ranked No. 1 in the coaches' poll during the weeks leading up to the national championships. "We had a target on our backs this year," said Eyestone.
Their performances reaffirmed BYU's growing notoriety as a distance-running powerhouse — or, as one ESPN commentator told Eyestone on the air, "You're part of the ruling class of this sport."
For the women's team it marked their second national championship in five years and the sixth in the history of the program. For the men's team it marked the second national championship in six years.
The women have finished among the top two at the NCAA championships four times in the last seven years. The men have placed in the top three at the NCAA championships six times in eight years.
BYU runners and coaches pose with the national championship trophies after the BYU men's and women's cross country teams each won a national championship in the NCAA cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
BYU coaches Diljeet Taylor, left, and Ed Eyestone, right, pose with BYU senior associate athletic director Liz Darger after the BYU men's and women's cross country teams each won a national championship in the NCAA cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
BYU runners celebrate winning a national championship in the NCAA men's cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
BYU runners celebrate winning a national championship in the NCAA women's cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
BYU's Lexy Lowry competes in the NCAA women's cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
BYU's Casey Clinger competes in the NCAA men's cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
BYU runners celebrate winning a national championship in the NCAA men's cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
BYU runners celebrate winning a national championship in the NCAA women's cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
BYU runners celebrate winning a national championship in the NCAA women's cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
BYU runners celebrate winning a national championship in the NCAA men's cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
BYU runners celebrate compete in the NCAA women's cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
BYU runners celebrate winning a national championship in the NCAA men's cross country championship in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | BYU Photo
Saturday's performances continued BYU's surge in the sport. Seven current and former BYU distance runners qualified for the U.S. Olympic track team last summer, the most by any school. Kenneth Rooks won a silver medal in the steeplechase. BYU alum Conner Mantz and Clayton Young were the top American finishers in the 2023 Chicago Marathon, the 2024 New York Marathon, the Olympic Trials and the Olympics, where they finished eighth and ninth, respectively.
Of the 17 national championships that have been won by BYU's athletic teams, eight have come courtesy of the cross country team and another one was produced by the track team.
This year's men's team will lose three seniors to graduation, but the team will reload. Daniel Simmons, the national high school cross country athlete of the year the last two years, will join BYU when he returns from a church mission next year. Likewise, the women's top five finishers Saturday included three seniors.
"I'm really proud of these women," said Taylor. "They stayed committed to the process. They embraced the imperfect, which is what it takes. Like in any season, we had lots of downs, lots of ups, but they ran for each other and figured out how to fight their own battles. They let go of individual success and focused on the team."
