No. 13 men ran away with the first-ever Mountain West Conference titles. It was nothing new for the women, who have won 12 consecutive conference titles. The men picked up their third-straight conference championship.

In a race that scores only the top five runners from each team, the women finished in positions one through fiveto achieve a "perfect score" of 15, the lowest possible total in a cross country meet. "In the 20 years that I have coached, this is the first time that I have ever seen a perfect score in a major meet and the first time BYU has done it," said Coach Patrick Shane, who was named the conference's Coach of the Year. "I'm pleasantly surprised by the sweep. We've run in a lot of conference meets and have won them all, but this win is the best I've seen," said Shane.

No. 22 Colorado State was next on the women's side with 58 points. The Rams were led by junior Elizabeth Roodell, the first non-Cougar to cross the finish line(6th place, 17:46). They were followed byAir Force's 111 points (Rachel Smith, 11th, 18:22), UNLV with 128 points (Jenni Nelson, 19th, 18:58), San Diego State at 146 (Sophia Hawker, 16th, 18:36), Utah at 156 (Johanna Nielsen, 7th, 17:48), Wyoming at 159 (Jennifer Vessa, 22nd, 19:04) and New Mexico with 185 points (Jackie Morgan, 17th, 18:50).

Senior Elizabeth Jackson won the individual title in a time of 17:16, followed closely by Kara Ormond in 17:17. Tara Rohatinsky took third place in 17:31, followed by Laura Heiner (17:35) and Sharolyn Shields (17:36). "I just wanted to go out and stay with the leaders," said Jackson, a three-time cross country All-American. " It was a little hard to keep up the pace with no one in front of me, but I felt like I was kicking as hard as I could right in to the finish line." Freshman Sarah Ellett continued to impress, finishing in eighth place in 18:04, which was enough to earn her conference Freshman of the Year honors for 1999.

The men had a champion of their own in junior John Hedengren, who fought off a late surge by Colorado State's All-American Bryan Berryhill to finish first for the Cougars in 24:38. "I knew I'd have to make a move early because there were some good sprinters out there," said Hedengren. "It feels great, this conference is a fresh start and I feel this team has a lot of potential heading into nationals."

The men finished with a team score of 34 points, ahead of Air Force with 58 points, led by Jim Nelson (7th place, 25:36). No. 15 Utah finished in third position with 70 points (Chris Merkley, 3rd, 24:41), followed by Colorado State's 82 points (Bryan Berryhill, 2nd, 24:39), Wyoming at 135 (Greg Schabron, 9th, 25:46) and New Mexico with 163 (Louis Cuellar, 28th, 26:49).

"Our depth really helped us today," said men's head coach Sherald James. "I knew it was going to be tough. We ran better than I expected and I am super pleased with the results. I was running, heart and soul, right with them. John [Hedengren] ran a super race. Berryhill is one of the best in the U.S., so John made sure he wasn't in striking distance."

Hedengren finished first for the Cougars for the fourth time in four meets this year, covering the eight-kilometer course in 24:38. Randon Richards was the No. 2 runner for BYU in 5th place (25:11), followed by Marc Lawson (25:25). Freshman David Danley put another stamp on his breakout season with a 10th-place finish (25:49). The effort was enough to earn Danley the conference's Freshman of the Year honor. Nathan Harrison, running in his first meet of the season, was a surprising 12th-place finisher for the Cougars in 25:53 to round out the team scoring.

Mountain West Conference teams will return to the course at the Mountain Regionals in Fort Collins, Colo., Nov. 13. The meet will serve as a qualifier for the NCAA Championships, to be held Nov. 22 in Bloomington, Ind.