Both the men and women's cross country teams placed first overall at the BYU Autumn Classic, Saturday morning. The meet was held at Cascade Golf Course, with over 3,000 spectators on hand to cheer the Cougars on.
Josh Rohatinsky finished first overall with a time of 19:31.9 in the men's 4-mile race for the second week in a row, beating his previous time by 19 seconds. The junior helped guide the Cougars to an 11 point overall victory over second place Minnesota.
"With about 800m left, I felt kind of wobbly," Rohatinsky said. "I thought I might fall over a couple times, but that's what I get for taking it out."
Rohatinsky held the lead over University of Minnesota's Andrew Carlson heading into the final stages of the race, but with about a half-a-mile left to go, Rohatinsky put it into another gear, increasing his lead to one Carlson couldn't catch.
"After about 1200m, I felt like I could take it out and bound these guys in the ground so they won't come back on me," Rohatinsky said. "It worked, but I paid for it too."
"Josh took some initiative and grabbed the bull by the horns and showed why he's a top ten caliber guy in the country," said men's coach Ed Eyestone.
Coming in third place was teammate Bryan Lindsay with a time of 20:01.3.
"It was nice to have a home race," Lindsay said. "Everyone knows your name and is cheering you on. It was a tough race today and luckily I had enough."
Winning the women's 5K event with a time of 17:55.1 was senior Rena Williams-Chesser. Behind Chesser by 23 seconds was UVSC's Amanda Olsen.
Chesser rolled to victory and led the women to a 37 point overall win over second place Utah State.
"As a team we wanted to stay together the first mile and run a six minute pace," Chesser said. "After the mile was over we could go from there and run however fast we could, but always trying to stay with somebody from our team."
Chesser did what Coach Shane asked for the first mile, but as for the rest of the race she set the pace.
"This being my last year I feel I have a lot to accomplish before the year is over," said Chesser.
"Rena is a good runner," women's coach Patrick Shane said. "She'll be in our top five group of runners. She had a great summer of training and looked particularly good today."
Ann Heiner, who finished first in last weeks BYU Alumni Invitational, placed third overall with a time of 18:28.0. Improving her time from last week by 30 seconds.
"I was pleased with how our young developing athletes ran," Shane said. "We're right where we want to be at the beginning of the season."
The women have two weeks to prepare for the Great America, which will be held on September 24, in Cary, North Carolina.
The men's next meet won't be for another three weeks, when they travel to South Bend, Indiana on Oct 1, for the Notre Dame Invitational.
"It was nice to battle against some other teams, particularly top 25 teams like University of Minnesota and Utah State," said Eyestone. "Our main thing was to get through this unscathed and to chalk up a victory and we did that."
Men's 4 Mile
Cascade Golf Course
1. Brigham Young University 28
PlaceName Time Score
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1. Josh Rohatinsky 19:31.9 1.
3. Bryan Lindsay 20:01.3 3.
6. Matt Adams 20:24.0 6.
7. Chandler Goodwin 20:29.0 7.
11. Dustin Bybee 20:43.6 11.
12. Josh McAdams 20:44.2 (12.)
15. Chad Durham 20:49.3 (15.)
16. Nick McCombs 20:51.2 NS
17. Lars Kjerengtroen20:51.6 NS
18. Brett Andrus 20:52.3 NS
20. Warren Davis 21:01.0 NS
23. Jason Dorais 21:10.6 NS
27. Dustin Trail 21:18.7 NS
31. David Woodbury 21:29.9 NS
39. Jace Kellogg 22:13.3 NS
Women's 5K
Cascade Golf Course
1. Brigham Young University 22
PlaceName Time Score
-----------------------------------------------------
1. Rena Williams-Chesser 17:55.1 1.
3. Ann Heiner 18:28.0 3.
5. Julie Cameron 18:46.3 5.
6. Jami Caldwell 18:47.3 6.
7. Amber Harper 18:48.2 7.
9. Carolyn Quebe 18:58.7 (9.)
10. Jenna Taylor 19:00.2 (10.)
11. Kristy Barrus 19:01.3 NS
12. Lisa Frischnecht 19:06.9 NS
15. Sarah Ingebretsen 19:20.4 NS