The men's and women's cross-country teams invited several universities and local high schools to compete at the annual BYU Autumn Classic and ran away with first-place honors for both squads.

In the men's 4-mile race, eight Cougars finished in the top 10 with the team receiving a perfect score of 15 for their overall performance. Cougar runner Stephan Shay won the race with a time of 21 minutes, 0.2 seconds, while teammates Brandon Hebbert, Richard Nelson and Kyle Perry also among the top participants.

Head men's team coach Ed Eyestone was pleased with his team's effort.

"You've got to be happy with a perfect score," he said. "It was nice to see Stephan come from behind a little bit to win it and Hebbert to grind it out and keep the intensity up. Nelson also did well and we expect good things from him."

Perry battled a small side ache but still finished with a good mark.

"I'm glad that Kyle kept it together and kept battling to help the team get a better score," Eyestone said.

Hebbert led for most of the race but was overtaken by Jimmy Grabow, a former NCAA indoor finalist from San Bernadino Valley College who ran unattached. After his teammate fell back, Shay made his move and pulled ahead.

"It's a good thing that Stephan took it," Hebbert said. "We wanted to take all the top spots as a team so I'm glad he beat the other guy."

Tommy Gruenwald, Ryan Merriman, Jacob Gustafsson and Nate Ogden were also in the top 10 mix as they all finished within 45 seconds of Shay.

In the women's 5Krace, BYU won with an overall score of 35, beating out second-place Nebraska by 16 points. Following Lara Crofford and Rachel Carrizales of Nebraska were Cougars Anna Sperry (19:42.7) and Angela Wagner (19:44.7). Converted 800m track athletes Katy Andrews and Stacy Slight also finished in the top 10.

Head women's coach Patrick Shane was impressed with the consistency of his runners.

"I was pleased with their individual battles," he said. "They did what was needed and kept pace with the specific runners they were told to race. Angela's coming along just fine and Anna has made a huge improvement from last year, while Katy is just a freshman who did well in her first collegiate race."

Sperry and Wagner said the key to the team's victory was the preparation they had over the summer and at camp just weeks ago.

Wagner practiced over the summer by keeping up with the family's horse-driven carriage in South Africa while Sperry spent time at her former high school, running with ex-teammates and coaching at various track camps.

"Everyone put in a lot of mileage over the summer," Wagner said.

Despite failing to claim the top individual spot, Shane will take the win.

"Being the first race, you never know what to expect, but the team trained hard and we beat a good Nebraska team," he said. "The girls did their jobs and it was truly a team effort today."

The meet gave the coaches an opportunity to watch high school athletes and scout potential talent, as well. Karl Wilcock of Hurricane High School won the boys' 5K race at 16 minutes, 52 seconds, while Shalaya Kipp of Skyline won the girls' 5K with a time of 19 minutes, 42 seconds.



Copyright Brigham Young University 8 Sep 2008