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Cougar Runners Enter Final Stage The Provo Daily Herald Feature Story
Nov. 14, 2001
PROVO, Utah - It's the beginning for some, the end for others and the "second season" for still other teams in the BYU athletic department. The BYU men's and women's cross country teams are in the home stretch of their fall season. The No. 2 women's team and No. 12 men's team will be in Greenville, S.C., on Monday for the NCAA championships after strong finishes this past weekend in Provo at the NCAA Mountain Regional. Being at home for regionals gave the Cougars a jump-start for nationals, according to Cougar All-American Tara Northcutt, who finished second individually and led the BYU women to the regional title. "Being in front of some of our BYU fans and having cheerleaders there was awesome," Northcutt said. "You catch the excitement of the crowd and it makes you push a little bit more, especially when you hear them cheering for you." Perhaps that "home town" feeling will carry over to nationals, since the BYU women won the first of their two national cross country titles in Greenville in 1997. The Cougar men finished third in the regional meet, behind No. 1 Colorado and Northern Arizona. Meanwhile, the BYU women's soccer team is in the early stages of NCAA play, heading off to the first round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Cup. After winning both the regular-season and MWC tournament titles, BYU faces Kansas on Thursday in Lincoln, Neb. A victory over the Jayhawks would put the Cougars into a Saturday matchup against the winner of the Boston College-Nebraska game. That is likely to be the nationally ranked Cornhuskers, who beat the Cougars, 2-0, earlier this year in Lincoln. But at least the Cougars are familiar with the field. The women's volleyball team is just starting post-season action. The Cougars play host to the MWC tournament Thursday through Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse. For the first time in conference history, the Cougars didn't finish first or second in the league's regular-season standings. Colorado State comes in as the top seed, with Utah second. BYU will be the third seed and takes on Wyoming on Thursday at 7 p.m. Other matches on Thursday are Colorado State vs. Air Force (11 a.m.), San Diego State vs. UNLV (1:30 p.m.) and Utah vs. New Mexico (4 p.m). The swimming and diving teams are just getting a good start to their seasons. The women play host to San Diego State on Friday at 6 p.m. and the men and women face Pacific in Provo at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The women's basketball team is just starting regular-season play, opening on the road at Boise State on Friday and at Texas on Saturday.
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