MADISON, Wis. ­– Junior Jonathan Nelson led BYU men’s cross country with a 36th-place finish as the Cougars took 13th overall with 378 points at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational Friday.

Meet results

“I thought we were solid today,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “We’ve maintained all year that we can be a top-10 team, so we’ve got some work to do. Overall though, I’m proud of how our guys raced and think we’ll be able to improve and reach our goals.”

Nelson’s time of 24:13 on the 8-kilometer course placed him first among BYU runners for the third time this season. Senior Steve Flint finished second for the Cougars (24:30). Sophomore Connor McMillan (24:33), senior Conner Peloquin (24:34) and junior Aaron Fletcher (24:35) finished within strides of each other to round out the Cougars’ scoring.

Senior Spencer Gardner, who had previously finished in the BYU’s top three in every meet this season, traveled with the team but opted out of the race due to hip and shin pain. Coach Eyestone said he’s hopeful Gardner will be ready for the team’s postseason stretch.

Syracuse won the meet with 85 points. BYU’s West Coast Conference foe Portland took fourth overall with 211 points.

“We further realized that Portland is the team to beat in the conference,” Eyestone said. “We’re going to have to get to work and prepare if we want to contend with them at the conference championship.”

BYU has two weeks to prepare for the WCC Championship. The race will take place on Nov. 1 in Santa Clara, California.

PROVO, Utah – No. 12 BYU men’s cross country heads to the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational Friday in Madison to take on some of the nation’s top teams.

“This is another opportunity for us to go and race some good teams,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “Beating some top teams from other regions would help us to further qualify for nationals.”

Included in the 38-team field are seven teams ranked higher than BYU, including No. 3 Northern Arizona, who won the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational last year and finished second at nationals. West Coast Conference foe No. 5 Portland, who was picked to finish first in the WCC this year, is also in the field.

No. 11 Michigan, who also competes in the meet this weekend, is the only team to defeat the Cougars this season, having won the Notre Dame Invitational two weeks ago.

The Cougars come into the meet with strong recent performances by senior Spencer Gardner and junior Jonathan Nelson. Gardner won the BYU Autumn Classic and has finished in BYU’s top three in all three of the Cougars’ meets this season. Nelson finished first among BYU runners in the Utah Open and Notre Dame Invitational.

The men’s 8-kilometer race at Thomas Zimmer Championship Course starts Friday at 11:45 a.m. CDT.