The men’s and women’s cross country teams performed well Friday at the Wisconsin Invitational, with the men placing second and the women 22nd.
The No. 6 men’s team finished with 120 points behind No.2 Wisconsin, which had 66 points. BYU was able to beat the other top 10 teams competing in the tournament, including No. 4 Stanford.
Men’s head coach Ed Eyestone said the team continues to perform well.
“Overall it was an impressive performance,” Eyestone said. “We had three guys running strong up front and it was only a very strong Wisconsin team running at home that beat us. It just seems like week to week we continue to rise up and run well.”
BYU had two runners place in the top 10 overall. Senior Miles Batty finished seventh with a time of 23:36 and junior Rex Shields finished 10th with a time of 23:45. Sophomore Jared Ward followed closely behind, finishing 17th with a time of 23:49.
Eyestone said this is one of the best teams he has had and thinks the team is in a good position heading into the final part of the season.
“The way everyone is running individually and as a team shows that this is one of the best teams we’ve had in maybe a decade,” Eyestone said. “This sets us up extremely well going into the championship portion of our season.”
The women’s team also performed well, finishing 22nd with a total of 539 points.
Senior Morgan Haws led the team again, finishing fifth overall. Senior Katy Andrews finished second for the Cougars and 56th overall.
Women’s head coach Patrick Shane said he was satisfied with how Haws and Andrews raced.
“Morgan and Katy nailed it,” Shane said. “Morgan was fifth overall and had a lot left toward the end and was progressively moving up and Katy had an amazing race as well.”
Haws said she knew the race would be tough and wanted to finish in the top 10.
“I knew that we would be racing the top teams in the nation, and individually the top girls in the nation, so coming in I wanted to be at least in the top 10,” Haws said. “I wasn’t sure exactly where I was individually compared to the other girls, but I was able to pass a lot of people toward the end and I was happy with the fifth-place finish.”
Haws finished with a time of 20:12, her best time of the season.
Both teams will race again at the West Coast Conference Championship on Oct. 29.
