BYU’s Conner Manz crosses the finish line first at the West Coast Conference Cross Country Championships in Concord, Calif. On Friday, October 29, 2021. (BYU Courtesy Photo)
CONCORD, California – BYU men’s and women’s cross country won both individual and team titles at the West Coast Conference on Friday at Newhall Community Park.
The men won their seventh consecutive WCC championship while the women won their fourth consecutive place. Conner Mantz won his third individual title and Whittni Orton won her second.
Mantz, Orton and the Cougars are now turning to the NCAA Regionals. Both the men’s and women’s programs will compete for the NCAA Mountain Region title on Friday, November 12th at the Timpanogos Golf Club in Provo, Utah.
Summary for women
No. 3 BYU finished with a total of 21 points, 43 points ahead of second placed Gonzaga (64) on the way to his fourth world title in a row.
“It’s fun,” said BYU head coach for cross country, DIljeet Taylor. “Many of these women are at the end of their careers here at BYU. It’s just a little more meaningful because of the relationships we’ve had, particularly coming back from COVID to get back into a normal cross-country season.
Orton led from start to finish as she drove to her second individual world title. Orton’s time of 20: 01.0 was five seconds ahead of the runner-up.
Aubrey Frentheway, Lexy Halladay and Anna Camp-Bennett joined Orton at the 2.2M mark in the top 4 and stayed in the top 5 from that point on.
The Cougars placed six of the top 10 runners in Orton (1), Camp-Bennett (3), Frentheway (4), Halladay (5), Lee-Hansen (8) and Musselman (9)
Kate Hunter, Haley Johnston, Anna Martin and Madi Moffitt rounded off BYU’s first place.
Review for men
Mantz scored a 23: 01.0 in the men’s 8k run as he led the No. 7 Cougars to their ninth WCC title in 11 years. With the win, Mantz has won seven direct encounters and eleven for his career. The senior from Smithfield, Utah, became the first BYU cross-country runner to win three singles titles in his career.
““ I’m super happy with Mantz, ”said Ed Eyestone, BYU men’s cross country head coach. “Given his strength and dominance, it is only fitting that he should end his WCC career this way.”
BYU runners Casey Clinger, Brandon Garnica, Lucas Bons and Aidan Troutner followed closely behind Mantz and finished third, fourth, fifth and 11th, respectively.
“I think we went exceptionally well today,” said Eyestone. “Clinger and Garnica were solid and Bons is continuing its upward trend.”
Clinger has now made it into the top 10 in three direct encounters and has never placed outside the top 3 in three career world championships. With fourth place Garnica achieved the best WCC result of his career. Bons’ fifth place comes at the fourth meeting of his college career. The newcomer from Dublin, Ohio was named WCC Freshman of the Year after the meeting.
With the 2021 world title in hand, BYU men’s cross-country skiing has now won 30 conference championships of all time. The Cougars finished in the top 5 or better in 58 out of 59 (1962-present) seasons of the conference title competition.
After the NCAA Regionals, the Cougars will compete in the NCAA Championships in Tallahassee, Florida on November 20.
BYU’s Whittni Orton crosses the finish line first at the West Coast Conference Cross Country Championships in Concord, Calif. On Friday, October 29, 2021. (BYU Courtesy Photo)
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