Men Head to Minnesota, Women to Idaho

PROVO -- For the second consecutive weekend the BYU men’s and women’s cross country teams will be in action in two separate locations.

Minnesota will be the host for the men as they head to the elite Griak Invitational and the women will head north to Eagle, Idaho for the Bob Firman Invitational.

“I would like to see a solid team performance,” men’s head coach Ed Eyestone said. “I was very happy with our grouping between our first and fifth man at our last race and if we can do that again we will do extremely well.”

On the men’s side, the Griak Invitational will feature ranked teams. Tied for No. 11 North Carolina State and New Mexico as well as No. 13 Oklahoma will give BYU stiff competition. The race will begin at 11:20 p.m. MST and results will be available following the conclusion of the meet at gophersports.com.

Junior Miles Batty is expected to be BYU’s top runner again, with junior Rex Shields not far behind. Jared Ward will also be running officially for the team after running unattached the first two races of the year and should be another top finisher for the Cougars.

The women’s team will face off against teams from Boise State, Northwest Nazerene, Utah and Treasure Valley Community College, along with a few club teams. The 5K women’s race will begin at 9:25 a.m. MST and results will be available at runnerspace.com.

A pair of young runners, sophomore Michaelanne Laurent and redshirt freshman Candace Eddy, will look to lead the Cougars in the absence of upperclassmen Cecily Lemmon-Lew and Katie Bowen. Laurent finished first among BYU runners at the Aztec Invitational September 18 with Eddy close behind.