The BYU women’s and No. 3 men’s cross country teams will host the NCAA Mountain Regional meet on Saturday.
Men’s coach Ed Eyestone wants the team to run a good race but not lose sight on the national race.
“We want to be as prepared as possible for this race but run as easy as possible,” Eyestone said. “We only have nine days to rest for nationals, so we don’t want to overdo it.”
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“We’re aren’t going to do anything stupid in terms of running too hard to jeopardize our performance at nationals,” Eyestone said. “We’ll be content finishing first, second or third and still make it to nationals.”
The biggest competitors for the Cougars will be No. 4 Colorado and No. 12 Northern Arizona. Eyestone said he hopes Colorado and BYU will be able to race together.
“Colorado is a team who will advance to the national field,” Eyestone said. “It would be nice if both Colorado and we could run a controlled race and finish together.”
A challenge for the men’s team is to put enough, but not too much effort, into this race.
“It’s tough for these guys to not run hard because they are used to putting it all out there every race,” Eyestone said. “It’s hard for a person to turn off their competitive juices but they need to focus on the individual glory of nationals and not the glory of this race.”
Women’s head coach Patrick Shane is also ready for his team to show they are a top team.
“This race is an opportunity for us to qualify for the national race,” Shane said. “I believe we are a top 30 team and we need to get to nationals to prove that.”
If the Cougars finish in third and previous teams they’ve beaten this year qualify, then they will have a chance to qualify for the nationals.
“If we get third we have a shot at nationals, but only if we get third,” Shane said. “If we get third we will need some of the teams we beat this year to qualify for nationals and then we have a shot.”
The women will face tough competition from No. 3 Colorado and No. 19 New Mexico. Other top competitors in this race are Texas Tech and Colorado State.
Shane believes even if the team does not qualify for nationals, senior Morgan Haws will get there individually.
“Morgan Haws has had a great year,” Shane said. “If she finishes in the top four she will be able to go to nationals.”
Senior Katy Andrews is hopeful and believes if the team is confident they will race well.
“We have had a lot of great performances this season,” Andrews said. “Hopefully we can all come together and run the race confidently and leave it out on the course.”
The race takes place at East Bay Golf Course in Provo. The men’s race begins at 11 a.m. and the women at 12:15 p.m.
