Ben Bluhm | Posted: 16 Oct 2019 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020

No. 2 Men, No. 2 Women Look to Pre-Nationals

TERRE HAUTE, IN — The No. 2 men and women's teams will compete at the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana on Saturday, Oct. 19.

The women’s 6k starts at 11 a.m. ET and the men’s 8k follows at 11:35 a.m. ET. 

Saturday’s races will feature 57 men’s teams and 64 women’s teams. Among the competition on the men’s side is No. 3 Colorado, No. 4 Washington, No. 8, No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 15 Indiana. The women’s field consists of No. 3 Colorado, No. 7 Michigan, No. 8 Washington, No. 11 (tied) Boise State and No. 11 (tied) Florida State.

“I think we’re excited to show just how good we can be,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “We kind of took a half-step back after the Dellinger meet. We’ve had some great workouts. We’ve had a good three weeks of time, since the Dellinger meet to rack in some good, heavy training. I think ultimately, the guys just want to show how good they are.”

Eyestone and the men's team look to continue their success at Pre-Nationals meets, having won the team title in 2017 and 2018.

Men’s Team Notables: 

  • The men’s team has won the last two Pre-Nationals Invitationals in 2017 and 2018 

  • Former Cougar All-American Rory Linkletter won back-to-back individual championship titles after winning the Pre-National Invitational in 2017 and 2018

  • Sophomore standout Conner Mantz placed fourth at the meet last year with an 8k time of 23:55.5, before improving his 8k time to 23:24.7 at the Bill Dellinger Invitational this season

The BYU women look to build on the success they’ve had so far this season, after winning their first three meets.

“We’re excited to get back in uniform after three weeks off,” BYU associate director of cross country and track and field Diljeet Taylor said. “We’re coming off a hard three week block of training, but I’m excited to see how our runners compete against some of the best teams in the country. This meet is another great stepping stone to get ready for the championship part of the season.”

Having the meet in Indiana feels like things are coming full circle, Taylor said, as Terre Haute was the site of the national championship in 2016, which was her first year as the BYU women’s coach.

Women’s Team Notables:

  • The Cougars took fourth at last year’s Pre-Nationals race, rising above six other top-25 teams, their best Pre-Nationals finish since 2013.

  • All-American Erica Birk-Jarvis finished fourth last season in the women’s 6K with a career-best time of 20:12.2

  • The BYU women have competed twice in the state of Indiana since Taylor took the helm, finishing in the top-10 in each of those races

Live results can be found on AthleticLive.net. Live updates will also be provided on BYU's Twitter and Instagram pages. General meet information can be found here.