Men’s and women’s cross country win home meet

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The men’s and women’s cross country teams each took first place at the BYU Invitational on Friday.

The men finished on top with 15 points, soundly beating Idaho State, who had 50 points.

Senior Miles Batty took first individually with a time of 19:08.4, followed closely behind by teammates sophomore Jared Ward in second and junior Rex Shields in third. BYU also held nine of the top 10 positions.

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BYU's women's Cross Country Team won the BYU invitiational Friday in Orem.

Jared McCabe, an unattached runner, was the only runner to give BYU a challenge, as he finished fourth.

Men’s head coach Ed Eyestone said he was pleased with how his team performed.

“I’m very happy with how the race went,” Eyestone said. “It was a nice solid team effort. I’m really satisfied with the performance of Miles, Jared and Rex.”

Batty also expressed his happy sentiments with how the race went.

“I think it went really well,” Batty said. “It was all BYU. We had a really good pack early on and finished strong.”

The women had a tighter race but were able to come out victorious.

BYU won with 30 points, followed closely behind by Idaho State with 32 points. The Cougars also beat the University of Utah, who had 72 points.

Freshman Brooke Holt finished first for BYU and third overall with a time of 18:31.5. The other top runners for BYU included sophomore Michaelanne Laurent and freshman Candace Eddy, who finished sixth and seventh overall.

Women’s head coach Patrick Shane said he was proud with his team.

“The race went really well,” Shane said. “We didn’t run all of our people, but we had some strong ones.”

Shane was also particularly pleased with Holt’s performance.

“Brooke Holt was our go-to girl today,” Shane said. “She’s a true freshman and executed her race plan perfectly. She looked like a senior and did a great job.”

This race was only Holt’s second race at the collegiate level, and she said she felt more ready to run this race than at the Utah State Invitational two weeks ago.

“I think I was ready to run with the college girls this week,” Holt said.

Throughout the day, Orem experienced rainstorms and had been slightly chilly, but these storms did not affect the outcome of the race, held at the Cascade Golf Center.

Shane believed the weather actually assisted with the team’s success.

“It stopped raining when we ran,” Shane said. “It was also cool. We would much rather run when it’s cool than 90 degrees. So, it actually helped us.”

Batty said there were only a few muddy spots from the rain that the team had to watch for while running.

The women will next compete Sept. 24 at the Griak Invitational in Minnesota. Both teams will then compete at the Notre Dame Invitational in Indiana on Sept. 30.

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