Joseph Hovey | Posted: 25 Oct 2021 | Updated: 30 Nov 2021

Cougars look to continue WCC dominance at championship meet
BYU men's and women's cross country at the 2021 West Coast Conference Championship meet.

CONCORD, Calif. -- Both BYU men's and women's cross country will seek to defend their West Coast Conference Championships at the league's title meet at Newhall Community Park on Friday. 

Meet Information

Women’s Preview

Anna Camp-Bennett, Aubrey Frentheway, Lexy Halladay, Kate Hunter, Haley Johnston, McKenna Lee-Hansen, Anna Martin, Madi Moffitt, Sara Musselman and Whittni Orton are slated to compete for No. 3 BYU this week. 

Frentheway finished first at the Autumn Classic on Sept. 11 and Orton took first at the FSU XC Open on Sept. 17 as the Cougars recorded first-place finishes at both of those meets. The runners scheduled to race at the WCC Championships this week have combined for 10 top-10 finishes so far this season.

BYU look to win its fourth-straight conference championship on Friday. In their 10 seasons as a member of the conference, the Cougars have won the WCC title four times: 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2020-21. Two BYU runners have claimed the WCC's individual title, including Orton in 2019.

Portland joins BYU as the only other WCC team in the USTFCCCA rankings, coming in at No. 27. The Pilots have six top-4 finishes on the year and won the Charles Bowles Invitational earlier this month. Gonzaga received two votes in the most recent poll. The Bulldogs have two first-place finishes this season.

Men’s Preview

No. 7 BYU will run the following athletes at Newhall Community Park: Mantz, Casey Clinger, Brandon Garnica, Lucas Bons, Aidan Troutner, Garrett Marsing, Adam Wood, Creed Thompson, Zac Jacklin and Joey Nokes.

Marsing will join the team in competition for the first time since the 2019 WCC title meet. Bons will look to continue improving in just his fourth collegiate meet. The sophomore from Dublin, Ohio shaved a minute off his 8K time and helped the Cougars finish fourth at Pre-Nationals on Oct. 15.

The Cougars will vie for a program-record seventh consecutive conference championship on Friday. The Cougars have won the WCC title in eight of ten seasons as a league member. Seven BYU runners have also won the conference’s individual crown since the team began WCC competition in 2011. Senior runner Conner Mantz has claimed the last two-straight.

With a win on Friday, Mantz can become the first BYU men’s cross country athlete to take home three consecutive individual conference championships.

No. 13 Gonzaga and No. 17 Portland stand between the Cougars and another conference championship. Following three first-place finishes in the regular season, the No. 13 Zags achieved their highest ranking in program history in the latest USTFCCCA poll.