Senior captain Casey Clinger took first overall in the BYU Autumn Classic 4-mile race Friday morning at the Lakeside Sports Complex.

“I’m very excited about Casey’s debut for the season,” Cougar head coach Ed Eyestone said. “It was fun seeing him running on grass again. He ran a very intelligent race. He put down a nice last 600-meters to go and was nice to see him bring in his teammate Creed behind him. That was a nice one-two punch. I was also impressed with Mark Boyle being a solid fifth for us. We also saw good style from our unattached and redshirted athletes as well.”

Clinger took the overall victory in the on the four-mile course in 19:32.09 with teammate Creed Thompson crossing a moment later in second place. The 2024 Autumn Classic marks the first official collegiate race representing BYU for Clinger since the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The four-time All-American missed collegiate competition for over 14 months battling injury.

Thompson also has overcome injury to approach the starting line Friday morning. The fellow senior’s last race in uniform for the Cougars was at the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships where he placed 46th overall.

Twin brother Jacob and Garrett Stanford crossed the finish within two seconds of each other, placing sixth and seventh respectively. Mark Boyle rounded out BYU’s scoring placing 13th overall.

The Cougars will travel outside the state for the first time this season to Madison, Wisconsin to compete at the Nuttycombe Invitational on Sept. 27.

No. 6 BYU women’s cross country takes Autumn Classic

Jenna Hutchins led the BYU women as she won the Autumn Classic for the second straight year. A sophomore from Johnson City, Tennessee, Hutchins set the pace from the gun with teammates Lexy Halladay-Lowry and Riley Chamberlain. Hutchins clocked 15:17.88 over the three-mile course with Halladay-Lowry just .05 seconds behind in 15:17.93 and Chamberlain in 15:18.03.

True freshman Nelah Roberts finished fourth for the Cougars in 15:29.11 and Taylor Lovell rounded out the scoring five for BYU, placing sixth in 15:36.94.

The BYU women won the meet with 16 points marking their fifth-straight victory at the Autumn Classic, claiming nine out of the last 10 since 2012 (the Cougars did not host an Autumn Classic in 2022).

“The race today was really fun,” Hutchins said. “It was great to enjoy finishing with my teammates. We were all just trying to run together as a group and it was more like a tempo effort. Overall, it was a great start to the season for our team.”

The Cougars will return to action in three weeks at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite in South Bend, Ind.

San Diego upsets No. 17 BYU women’s volleyball in five sets

SAN DIEGO — Despite 22 kills by Claire Little, No. 17 BYU women’s volleyball dropped a five-set contest at San Diego (26-24, 22-25, 25-22, 24-26, 14-16) in the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Thursday night.

In their second five-set match in as many games, the Cougars (4-2, 0-0 Big 12) held the Toreros to a .140 clip, but hit a season-low .188 themselves. BYU was out-blocked by San Diego, 15 to 11, and the Toreros tallied eight aces to the Cougars’ three.

Little (tied career high with 22 kills, 14 digs) and setter Alex Bower (career-high 59 assists, 15 digs) each posted double-doubles, while middle blocker Brielle Kemavor (eight total blocks, three solo blocks) and outside hitter Blaykli Bobik (10 kills, five total blocks) both set new career highs for the second-straight match.

Outside hitter Elli Mortensen recorded nine kills, while outside hitter Eden Bower, middle blocker Mia Lee and Kemavor each added seven. Liberos Lulu Uluave and Hannah Billeter had a career-high 18 and 11 digs, respectively.

BYU led two sets to one and in Set 4 the two teams traded points through 21-all. Mortensen kill off the block and Torero error tied the set again at 23, and USD took its last timeout. San Diego took three of the final four points, however, forcing a fifth set, 26-24.

Little’s 22nd kill of the night gave the Cougars a 9-7 lead in Set 5, but a 3-0 Torero run had the decisive set tied at 10-apiece. Two-straight from USD had the Cougars down 12-10. A Mortensen kill through the block made it 13-12, San Diego, and the Toreros took their final timeout. BYU staved off a USD match point with a double block and Alyssa Erickson service ace that tied it up at 14-all, but surrendered the final two points, 16-14.

The Cougars will remain in San Diego for a top-20 matchup against No. 12 Oregon on Friday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. PDT. The neutral site match will not be streamed, but live stats will be available through Stat Broadcast.

UVU women’s soccer drops 3-0 decision to UC Davis

DAVIS, Calif.– Despite outshooting the Aggies 14-11 and controlling the majority of possession, Utah Valley fell 3-0 to UC Davis on Thursday night at Aggie Soccer Field. UVU drops to 3-4-1 on the season, while UC Davis improves to 6-2-0. The team will now wrap up a three game road swing at Gonzaga on Sunday. “I don’t think the score truly reflected how the game went,” said Utah Valley head coach Chris Lemay. “It was a match between two distinct philosophies and approaches… Credit to UC Davis; they had a game plan, executed it well, and earned the win.”

UC Davis got on the scoreboard in the 27th minute when Genavieve Fontes sent a right-footed shot into the top center of the goal, giving the Aggies a 1-0 lead. The Aggies added two second-half goals, with Kylie Garcia scoring in the 78th minute and Fontes netting another in the 90th minute after UVU pushed everyone forward in an effort to score.

The Wolverines held 56% of the possession and earned five corner kicks to UC Davis’ three. Faith Webber recorded a match-high four shots, two of which were on target. Cortney Cobabe added three shots, with two on goal, while Ruby Hladek and Nixan Jackson each tallied two shots. Leah Wolf played all 90 minutes in goal for the Wolverines, making three saves.

Utah Valley will continue its road trip with a match at Gonzaga (3-2-1) on Sunday afternoon in Spokane, Washington.