1998 Men's Cross Country Season Summary

The BYU men's cross country team wrapped up its final WAC season with another conference championship in the bag. The Cougars successfully defended last year's title with a comfortable 23-point margin of victory over Air Force to capture their fourth WAC championship in seven years.

Brothers Jeff and Gary Wilson led the Cougars to their WAC victory. Jeff had a seventh-place overall finish, running the 8K course in a time of 25:07; Gary followed with an 11th-place finish in a time of 25:21. Affected by the heat and humidity, the rest of the team put in tough performances to seal the win. Junior Matt Poulsen was the third BYU finisher, coming in 14th place (25:32).

Poulsen was the team's top runner throughout most of the season, coming in first for the Cougars at the Mountain West Classic, the BYU Autumn Classic and the NCAA District VII Championships. Poulsen's third-place finish at the district meet earned him a trip to the national championships. The only BYU runner competing in the men's race, he finished the 10K course in a time of 31:58.30.

Perhaps the Cougars' most impressive performance of the season was their 69-point second-place finish behind the top-ranked Cardinal at the Stanford Invitational. Led by a third-place finish from Randon Richards, the Cougars defeated 13 teams in only their second meet of the season. BYU also placed fourth at the Mountain West Classic, first at the BYU Autumn Classic and fourth at the NCAA Disctricts.