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The BYU men's cross country team celebrates winning the Big 12 Conference title at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course in Waco, Texas, on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Athletics

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The BYU women's cross country team celebrates winning the Big 12 Conference title at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course in Waco, Texas, on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Athletics

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WACO, Texas – What’s better than one championship trophy?

How about two?

The top-ranked BYU women’s cross country team won its second straight Big 12 Championship title Friday morning at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course, scoring 41 points to top No. 4 West Virginia’s 60 points and No. 6 Utah’s 86.

But wait, there’s more.

The No. 2-ranked BYU men’s cross country pulled off the upset, knocking off No.1 Oklahoma State 41-52 to win the 2024 Big 12 Cross Country Championship title.

“Our whole hope coming into the Big 12 Championships was to make it a good race,” Cougar head Coach Ed Eyestone said. “We knew Oklahoma State and I think we did a good job of putting pressure on them early. For a while we had a lot of orange in front of us, but my guys didn’t give up. They took heart. We are going to celebrate and enjoy this.”

The Cougars came into the meet ranked second in the USTFCCCA National Coaches Poll, a spot they have maintained all season. Defending NCAA Champions No. 1 Oklahoma State and No. 4 Iowa State were also featured in the race. The Cowboys have held the top spot in the rankings each week this season.

Senior captain Casey Clinger crossed first for the Cougars and third overall, coming across the 8k finish in 22:09.14 behind Brian Musua of Oklahoma State and Solomone Kipchoge of Texas Tech. James Corrigan and Joey Nokes followed in seventh and eighth to take the upper edge in the team standings.

Creed Thompson and Lucas Bons rounded out BYU’s scoring runners to clinch the team victory with 41 points. Davin Thompson also contributed heavily by breaking up the Cowboys’ pack by finishing 15th and sixth overall for the Cougars.

The Cougars maintained a strong pack and positioned themselves in second place a majority of the race. A brief misstep by an Oklahoma State and Texas Tech runner on a turn near the 5k mark shook the lead pack. Within the final kilometer, BYU moved past Oklahoma State in the spread to clinch the victory.

“We knew it was going to be a battle out there with Oklahoma State and Iowa State,” said Bons. “Our goals were just to pack up, be tough and let the results take care of themselves. We had some guys coming into this race dealing with some rough circumstances, but they still stuck it out and finished hard for the team. I’m super pleased with my race and our team’s race, but now we’ve just got to be humble and hungry for the next three weeks until the national championship.”

Senior Lexy Halladay-Lowry led the Cougars as she placed fifth with a time of 19:50.43. Riley Chamberlain and Taylor Rohatinsky finished just after Halladay-Lowry in career-best times of 19:54.27 and 19:55.29 to place sixth and seventh, respectively. Carmen Alder was the fourth BYU woman to finish in the top-10 as she placed 10th, running 19:58.71. Destiny Everett rounded out the Cougars’ scoring five with a 13th place finish and a career-best time of 19:59.56.

Halladay-Lowry, Chamberlain, Rohatinsky, Alder and Everett each earned All-Conference honors with top-15 finishes.

“The mindset today was to embrace the imperfect. The race isn’t going to feel great, but just stick to the race plan and fight for each other,” BYU women’s cross country coach Diljeet Taylor said. “That is what they did. They found their battles within the race and really fought.”

The conference championship marks the seventh of Taylor’s career at BYU and sixth consecutive (2019-2022 WCC, 2023 Big 12). It is also the 25th conference title in BYU women’s cross country history.

The Cougars will compete at the NCAA Mountain Regional held in Reno, Nevada at the Washoe County Golf Course on November 15.