All-American Kyle Perry paced the BYU men’s cross country team to the No. 1 finish at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego Saturday.

“Once again, we performed well,” said BYU men’s head coach Ed Eyestone. “We came together as a team against some stronger competition than last week, and we beat some very good teams. We ran within ourselves and were successful.”

Beating out two highly ranked teams, Northern Arizona (No. 6) and Minnesota (No. 17), the Cougars (No. 26) proved their potential and fight as they took first with 32 points; NAU came in second with 96 points followed by Minnesota in third with 103 points.

BYU’s top five runners included Kyle Perry, who placed third overall, Brandon Hebbert, fifth, Stephan Shay, sixth, Richard Nelson, eighth and Nathan Ogden who finished it off in 11th.

The team proved its consistency with a minimal gap between runners one through five of only 33 seconds and 54 seconds between runners one through seven.

“This is a good sign for our team,” said Eyestone. “Having only 33 seconds between our first and fifth runner shows that we are sticking together and running close, maintaining our consistency. That’s going to be important as we get further into the season.”

Now with two meets underway, one home the other way, the men’s team will break for a week before heading to Falcon Heights, Minn. to compete at the Roy Griak Invitational on Sept. 27.

Meanwhile, the women who did not compete this week will hit the road and travel to Eagle, Idaho for the Bob Firman Invitational on Sept. 20.

Aztec Invitational, Sept. 13, 2008
Balboa Park, San Diego, Calif. 
Men’s Invitational 
1. BYU, 32
2. Northern Arizona University, 96
3. University of Minnesota, 103
4. Air Force, 133
5. Chico A, 135
6. UC Stanta Barbara, 217
7. Loyola Marymount University, 237
8. CSUSM, 253
1. Aron Rono, AZUSA Pacific, 24:16
2. Morten Bostrom, NAU, 24:34
3. Kyle Perry, BYU, 24:42
4. Jordan Chipangama, Central Arizona, 24:44
5. Brandon Hebbert, BYU, 24:54
6. Stephan Shay, BYU, 25:02
7. Matt Williams, Air Force, 25:03
8. Richard Nelson, BYU, 25:06
9. Diego Estrada, Unattached, 25:07
10. Sean Houseworth, Air Force, 25:13

No. 26 BYU men’s cross country team is on the road for the first time this season, competing in San Diego at the Aztec Invitational.

The Cougars will be competing against some of the highest ranked national teams and are expecting to have a strong follow-up from last week’s home meet.

“This meet is a step up from our last one that was at home, “ said BYU head coach Ed Eyestone. “These are good nationally ranked teams that we are competing against so we’re going to have to work hard. If we can perform to our potential, then I’m expecting another victory for BYU.”

Strong lineups beside BYU will be Northern Arizona (No. 6), Minnesota (No. 17), UC Santa Barbara (No. 26), Chico State, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount and defending champion Air Force.

The meet is scheduled to start at 7:30 a.m. with the People’s Race (5K), followed by the Women’s Open (5K) at 8:15 a.m., Women’s Invitational (5K) at 9:00 a.m., Men’s Invitational (8K) at 9:30 a.m. and the Men’s Open (8K) at 10:15 a.m. at Balboa Park.

The women’s team is idle this week as it prepares for the Bob Firman Invitational, which will be in Eagle, Idaho next weekend.