The BYU men’s cross country team is racing at the Steve Reeder Memorial Invitational in Logan, hosted by Utah State University and will be looking to get important experience as they prepare for the Big 12 Championships later this month.
“This Friday's race will be a great opportunity for our younger athletes to showcase their talent and help us make some decisions for who will be the 10 runner that race at the Big 12 championships,” said coach Ed Eyestone.
Eyestone emphasized the importance of getting reps for the younger athletics and creating crucial experience that the younger athletes will need down the stretch in bigger races like in the Big 12 Championships.
The race will be a 7k, or approximately 4.35 miles, starting at 3 p.m. on Friday and six athletes from the team will be racing this weekend. The athletes starting are Carter Cutting, Caleb Johnson, Hunter Kitchen and Brayden Packard.
When asked who to look out for this weekend in the race, Eyestone mentioned how he is interested in how Carter Cutting and Jackson Henstrom perform in their first race of the season.
For Henstrom, this is his first start for the Cougars as he is a transfer from Salt Lake Community College. Patrick Cullen is a transfer from Northeastern. This is not their first collegiate race however, so these athletes do have experience at this level.
Eyestone is anticipating a competitive race and he hopes that the hard work that the athletes have put in will show off this weekend.
“They have worked hard and are looking forward to a hard race with good competition,” said Eyestone. “It should be fun!”
Eyestone also mentioned that everyone will be racing for the first time this season, and is anticipating good competition with the hard work everyone has put in.
Overall, it will be interesting to see how all of the athletes do as it is an important stepping stone to start the season for these athletes. It creates important experience that will propel them into the Big 12 Championships later this month, and ultimately this race will be a good test to see where the athletes are competitively.
After the Steve Reeder Memorial Invite, BYU travels to Madison, Wisc., where it will compete at the 2025 Nuttycombe Invitational on Oct. 17.