PROVO, Utah — Highlighted by winning the first Big 12 championship across all sports at BYU, the women's cross country team concludes their 2023 season with four meet wins and a 14th place finish at the NCAA national championships.
The BYU women started off their 2023 season hosting the Autumn Classic on Sept. 8 in Provo. Ranked No. 7 in the USTFCCCA preseason poll, they finished the race with a perfect 15 points. Jenna Hutchins won the meet for the Cougars earning the lean over teammate Carmen Alder at the finish line.
Moving up in the rankings, the No. 6 Cougars traveled to Oregon two weeks later to face the No. 7 ranked Oregon Ducks for their first major challenge of the year. BYU led the team score from gun to finish with 42 points and became the Bill Dellinger Invitational champions. Lexy Halladay-Lowry and Aubrey Frentheway led the Cougars with fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively.
Previewing the year's national championship course, the women headed off to Virginia for the XC-23 Pre-Nationals Invitational. Once again No. 6 BYU came out on top scoring 32 points to beat No. 7 Virginia and No. 19 Arkansas. Alder won the invitational earning her first-ever meet win at 19:36.2. Hutchins, Frentheway, Halladay-Lowry and Riley Chamberlain all finished in the top 10.
Moving to No. 4, the Cougars prepared for their first-ever Big 12 championship. BYU led the entire race, including at the 5,000-meter mark, when they led No. 6 Okalahoma State by a single point. Finishing with just 32 points and five runners (Halladay-Lowry, Hutchins, Alder, Frentheway and Chamberlain) in the top 10, the program won its first-ever Big 12 title and first across all sports at BYU.
The Cougars moved up to No. 3 in the USTFCCCA rankings prior to the NCAA Mountain Regional. The women took care of business, placing second and punching their automatic ticket to the NCAA championships. Alder and Frentheway paced the Cougars as they placed fourth and fifth, respetively, each with personal-best times over 6,000 meters.
The No. 3 Cougars traveled to Virginia a week later to compete at nationals. Despite leading the team score through the first two kilometers, the Cougars fell to third for kilometers three and four, fifth in kilometer five and finished the race in 14th place with 399 points. The finish marked the program's eighth-consecutive top-15 finish at the national meet, all of which have come during head coach Diljeet Taylor's tenure.
Frentheway highlighted the national meet for the Cougars as she placed 14th individually and earned her fourth cross country All-America honor. She is now the second-most decorated cross country athlete all-time at BYU behind only five-time All-American Elizabeth Jackson (1995-99).
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Team Results |
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|
Invitational |
Place |
Points Scored |
|
Autumn Classic |
1st |
15 |
|
Bill Dellinger |
1st |
42 |
|
XC-23 Pre-Nationals |
1st |
32 |
|
Big 12 Championships |
1st |
35 |
|
NCAA Mountain Regional |
2nd |
59 |
|
NCAA Championships |
14th |
399 |
The women will now shift gears to indoor track and field. The first meet of season will take place on Dec. 2 in Boston, Massachusetts at the Boston Colyear-Danville Season Opener.