BYU Cross Country Teams Compete In The NCAA Championships Today With High Hopes

The Provo Daily Herald Feature Story

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Nov. 19, 2001

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Fresh off second- and third-place finishes, respectively, at the NCAA Mountain Regional in Provo, BYU's No. 2 women's and No. 13 men's cross country teams compete in the NCAA Championships today with high hopes.

The men's race begins at 9 a.m. (MST) and the women's race follows at 10:15 a.m.

The Cougar women hope to improve on last year's runner-up finish and win their third NCAA cross country title. The karma appears right, since they won the national title the last time the event was held in Greenville (1999).

BYU is led by two-time All-American Tara Northcutt, who has been the Cougars' top finisher in every race she has run this season. Northcutt anchors a talented group of runners who hope to unseat top-ranked Stanford.

The Cardinal is the only team BYU has not beaten this season. The Cougars finished second by two points to Stanford at the Pre-National Invitational in October.

"On paper Stanford seems to have t he edge and that is why they are ranked first," women's coach Patrick Shane said. "We are expecting to challenge them for a national championship."

On the men's side, All-American John Hedengren and the 13th-ranked Cougars hope to make a splash on the national scene.

Coach Ed Eyestone, in his second year as head coach, expects the team to improve on last year's 23rd-place finish at nationals.

"The guys and I started the season thinking we had a legitimate shot at the top 10," Eyestone said.