Why BYU’s Big 12 cross country win was a stunning development – Deseret News

Minutes after the BYU men’s cross country team upset No. 1 ranked Oklahoma State on Friday to win the Big 12 Conference championship, coach Ed Eyestone called Olympic marathoner Conner Mantz.

“It’s a frustrating weekend,” he told him. “Now it’s your turn to do it.”

Mantz and training partner Clayton Young, both former BYU national champions, will compete in Sunday’s New York City Marathon, their first race since finishing eighth and ninth, respectively, in the Olympic marathon.

“They’ll try to continue our winning ways,” Eyestone said. “It’s been 10 weeks since the Olympics and Conner is doing amazingly well.

“Clayton had a good physique too. Conner could crack the top three and Clayton could crack the top five. “I told Conner that we upset the East Africans today and now it’s his turn.”

The defeat of Oklahoma State, a team made up of East African runners (Tanzanians, Ethiopians, Kenyans), was a stunning event in running circles.

OSU returned all of its running backs from last year’s NCAA championship team and has since added other top Africans to its roster. Eyestone was a realist in the days leading up to the competition.

“Oklahoma State is going to be tough to beat, and our athletes know that too,” the coach said. “We can compete with the Kenyans – they make us better – but when you have 6-7 Kenyans it can be quite difficult. The conference meet will be as tough as the NCAA Championships.”

BYU placed five runners in the top 12 among more than 110 athletes. Result: BYU 41, Oklahoma State 52, Iowa State 62.

Casey Klinger, an American Fork graduate, finished third in the 8,000 meters with a time of 22:08.2. James Corrigan, Olympic steeplechase champion, was seventh, followed by Joey Noakes (8th), Creed Thompson (11th) and Lucas Bones (12th).

Oklahoma State’s top three athletes are from Kenya, and the fifth fastest time is from Morocco. Of BYU’s top five finalists, three are from Utah, one is from Ohio and the other is from California.

BYU, ranked No. 2 in the national polls heading into the race, is certain to take the No. 1 spot when the new rankings are released next week.

The BYU women’s team is already ranked No. 1. She also won the Big 12 Championship as BYU became the fourth school in Big 12 history to win men’s and women’s titles in the same event, joining Colorado (11 times), Iowa State. (2017, 2018) and Oklahoma State (2015, 2021, 2022).

Since joining the league last year, BYU has won three Big 12 championships, all three of which came as a result of the cross country program.

BYU placed five runners in the women’s top 13 and won its second straight conference championship. Lexi Lowery, Riley Chamberlain and Taylor Rohatinski finished fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, while Carmen Alder was 10th and Destiny Everett was 13th.

BYU finished with 41 points, followed by West Virginia with 60 and Utah with 86.

The path to the NCAA Championships resumes in two weeks with NCAA Regionals.