Both of BYU’s cross-country teams were victorious at the Big 12 Conference championships in Waco, Texas, on Friday, Nov. 1.
The women’s team, ranked No. 1 nationally, secured its second consecutive conference championship by placing five runners among the top 13 finishers. BYU’s Lexie Lowry, Riley Chamberlain and Taylor Rohatinsky finished fifth, sixth and seventh respectively, while Carmen Alder placed 10th and Destiny Everett was 13th.
BYU women’s cross-country coach Diljeet Taylor said the team’s mindset going into the race was to “embrace the imperfect.”
“The race isn’t going to feel great, but just stick to the race plan and fight for each other,” she said in a news release. “That is what they did. They found their battles within the race and really fought.”
The men’s team, ranked No. 2 in the national polls, pulled off a significant upset by defeating top-ranked Oklahoma State, the defending national champions.
The men’s race featured three of the top four teams in the nation — No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 2 BYU and No. 4 Iowa State. Oklahoma State’s team is built with runners from East Africa, including Tanzanians, Ethiopians and Kenyans.
Five of BYU’s runners finished in the top 12. Senior Casey Clinger finished third. James Corrigan, who competed in the Paris Olympics in the steeplechase, was seventh, followed by Joey Nokes (eighth), Creed Thompson (11th) and Lucas Bons (12th).
“Our whole hope coming into the Big 12 Championships was to make it a good race,” BYU head track coach Ed Eyestone said in the news release. “We knew Oklahoma State and I think we did a good job of putting pressure on them early. For a while we had a lot of orange in front of us, but my guys didn’t give up. They took heart. We are going to celebrate and enjoy this.”
With dual victories, BYU became the fourth school in Big 12 history to sweep the men’s and women’s titles in the same competition, joining Colorado (11 times), Iowa State (2017, 2018) and Oklahoma State (2015, 2021, 2022).
Runners will now prepare for the NCAA regional competition in hopes of qualifying for the NCAA championships on Nov. 23.
