No. 4 BYU women's cross country wins school's first Big 12 title

PROVO — The first Big 12 title in BYU history is officially across the finish line.

Lexy Halladay-Lowry finished fourth in 19 minutes, 44.3 seconds, and the fourth-ranked Cougars' women's cross country team did all of its scoring in the top 10 to hold off Oklahoma State for the Big 12 championship Saturday at the Iowa State Cross Country Course in Ames, Iowa.

"When we previewed this course yesterday, there were all good vibes. We all could tell, we're going to run faster," the sophomore from Meridian, Idaho, said. "So coming in today, we knew it would be fast and we knew we had to get out. We knew the competition. We stepped up to the line, and we were ready to race."

BYU, which most recently won the XC-23 Pre-Nationals in Virginia, ran as a pack. After Halladay-Lowry's finish, four of the next six harriers to cross the finish line wore the black singlet with the blue BYU logo emblazoned across the chest.

But Halladay-Lowry's performance, in particular, was "super gutsy," head coach Diljeet Taylor said.

"I love this team this year because there is no particular order," the two-time national coach of the year added. "On any given day, anyone can rise to the occasion; we're not necessarily counting on just one individual, but the entire team. And she was our leader today and did a great job."

Star freshman Jenna Hutchins was sixth in 19:54.5 in the 6,000-meter women's event, followed by breakout junior Carmen Alder in seventh (19:57.2), Aubrey Frentheway in eighth (19:58.0) and Riley Chamberlain in 10th (20:10.4).

Oklahoma State senior Taylor Roe, a three-time All-American, was the top individual in 19:35.4 to pace the Cowgirls to second with 39 points, 4 points back of the Cougars. Iowa State (70), West Virginia (163) and Kansas State (185) rounded out the top five.

"BYU ran a really, really strong race," Roe told the Big 12 broadcast on ESPN+

Taylor, likewise, commended the Cowgirls while complimenting her runners.

"Our goal was just to get our one through five working together as a team; I think that's really important in these championship style races," she said. "It got a little close there at the end — probably a little too close for comfort. But the women pulled it out in the end, and it was really exciting."

Creed Thompson led the BYU men's team to second in its inaugural Big 12 championships, finishing third overall in 22:54.1 on the 8,000-meter championship course at Iowa State.

It's the second top finish of the year for the returning All-American junior, who also placed 10th in 23:35.3 to pace the Cougars to second at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational a year after the Cougars left a dominating run in the West Coast Conference.

Joey Nokes added a sixth-place finish in 23:01.9, followed by freshman James Corrigan in 13th (23:17.5) and Isaac Hedengren in 16th (23:21.2).

Oklahoma State cruised to its fourth-straight Big 12 in the men's race, paced by freshman Brian Musau's individual title in 22:46.6.

BYU turns its attention to the NCAA Mountain Regional, which will beheld Nov. 10 in Lubbock, Texas.

"This lets coach know where we are, and where we need to go," Halladay-Lowry said. "Obviously we performed well today, but there are still big steps we need to take in order to do what we want to do at nationals."

The Cougars will be joined at the regional meet by Utah Valley, which upset No. 12 California Baptist to claim its fourth Western Athletic Conference championship Friday with top-five finishes from Ari Trimble (20:22.6) and Morgan Nokes (20:35.00).

Contributing: Zach Hunter

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