SAN MATEO, Calif. – BYU men’s cross country runner Casey Clinger was named West Coast Conference Men’s Runner of the Week, the conference announced on Tuesday.
Clinger received the conference honor after finishing seventh in the 8,000-meter race at the Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Okla. on Saturday. The race marked Clinger’s 15th career meet and 13th top-10 finish as his 23.30.0 time bested all other WCC competing athletes.
The three-time All-American’s impressive showing Saturday included a victory over Andrew Kent of then No. 5 Colorado, No. 1 NAU’s Drew Bosley, and Cormac Dalton of No. 6 Tulsa. The next highest WCC finishers were fellow BYU teammates Joey Nokes and Christian Allen at 10th and 11th, respectively. No. 16 Gonzaga harrier Yacine Guermali was the next non-BYU athlete behind Clinger representing the conference, crossing the line at 15th.
Clinger’s individual performance at the Cowboy Jamboree cemented a first-place finish for the Cougars with a score of 75 points, 26 ahead of second-place No. 3 Stanford’s 101 total points.
No stranger to WCC awards, Clinger is a three-time preseason and three-time All-WCC First Team honoree. He was also named the WCC Freshman of the Year back in 2017.
Clinger and the Cougars return to action at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisc. on Friday, Oct. 14.