History was repeated Monday at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., as the BYU men's cross country team proved why it is regarded as one of the best programs in the nation.

Leading the team to a ninth-place finish was two-time All-American Kyle Perry, who earned his third All-American award by finishing the 10K race in tenth place out of 255 runners with a time of 29 minutes, 47 seconds. It was his best 10K race of the season.

"Kyle really put his head where it needed to be and ran the best cross country race of his life," BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said.

Fellow senior Stephan Shay also performed well, finishing at No. 50 overall in 30:34. Jacob Gustafsson placed 95th with Dan Hinckley, Ryan Merriman, Rich Nelson and Nate Ogden following in close pursuit.

"The team ran really well today," Eyestone said. "We were ranked 16th coming into the race, and our team stepped up and really showed we could bring some competition."

Perry praised the efforts of his head coach.

"[Eyestone] really helped me peak at the perfect time of the season," he said. "Having a coach be able to prepare you at the right time is so important. Everything goes toward this race and it was a great finish. I just tried to keep myself focused because I was competing against the best and wanted to finish strong."

Oregon placed first overall, with Iona and Stanford rounding out the top three schools. Wisconsin, Auburn and Northern Arizona also placed high. BYU finished ahead of perennial contenders Georgetown, Colorado and Alabama, among others. Colorado beat the Cougars a week ago at the NCAA West Regionals.

Although the BYU women's team did not qualify, junior Angela Wagner had the opportunity to compete individually but suffered from exercise-induced asthma problems at the beginning of the race and had to end a mile after starting.

"Sometimes the weather really messes things up for this condition," BYU women's head coach Patrick Shane said. "I was sad Angela didn't get to finish the race, but when you can't breathe, it's kind of hard to keep going. I'm very proud of everything she accomplished this year. She'll just have to wait for another shot at earning All-American in cross country."



Copyright Brigham Young University 25 Nov 2008