By AARON SHILL
The BYU cross country teams are looking to make a clean sweep of the WAC this Saturday at the conference championships in Houston.
The top-ranked women’s team is hoping to stay greedy when it comes to winning the conference. And by the looks of it, the Cougars are not likely to be sharing any trophies this year.
“We take it very seriously,” said head coach Patrick Shane. “We plan to go down there and run well.”
BYU’s opponents can’t expect the Cougars to do anything but that. BYU has dominated the WAC with a perfect 8-0 record in the conference championship race. And although the event will feature some tough individual competition, Shane said the Cougars’ past success gives them a psychological advantage.
“I honestly believe other teams expect us to beat them,” Shane said.
Senior Emily Nay said the Cougars’ reputation may not necessarily help the team’s performance, but it does provide an intimidation factor for opponents.
“A lot of teams who may be capable of running with us don’t,” she said.
Most participants agree that the Cougars should return with more hardware to add to their trophy collection. In addition to the conference title, individual honors are on the line as well. Senior Courtney Meldrum will look to notch her third straight individual title, while Laura Heiner, Tara Rohatinsky and Lindsey Thomsen will compete for Freshman of the Year honors.
The men, meanwhile, have a title of their own to defend. After beating out Utah to capture last year’s championship, the Cougars enter this year’s race as the only WAC team ranked in the top 25.
They also have momentum on their side.
The Cougars moved up to number 15 in the nation after outrunning Montana at the Autumn Classic two weeks earlier. BYU looks to be the favorite on Saturday, but head coach Sherald James said the team needs a collective effort to be successful.
“Every individual has got to score,” he said. “Every individual has got to do his best.”
Despite their success this season, the Cougars feel they have yet to put a complete race together. Sophomore Trevor Pettingill said the team has potential beyond its occasional up-and-down individual efforts.
“All of us need to run our best at the same time,” he said. “When we do that, we’ll see some success that we haven’t seen before.”
Two weeks removed from the District Championships, James said Saturday’s race is an important step in preparing for upcoming competition.
“This meet is vitally important to get the momentum that we need to take us into the district meet,” he said.
