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TSR's 2024 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Women): #2 BYU Cougars
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Sep 1, 2024
- 11 min read
NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to nearly every team that was considered for a possible ranking this summer. While we did receive numerous responses and great clarity, we did not get a 100% response rate. On certain occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.
The BYU women seem to have a knack for making our preseason rankings look silly.
Over the last few years, the Cougars have entered the fall months with a large handful of questions surrounding their roster. Was their team too young? How many of their top scorers were truly proven on the grass? Can certain runners improve their consistency?
But for the most part, Coach Diljeet Taylor has consistently beat our expectations, often tying up loose ends better than any other distance coach in the country. And despite how their 2023 fall campaign ended, last year's group was undeniably a podium-caliber squad.
Now, as we enter the fall of 2024, the BYU women are far more experienced. Their depth has grown, their top scorers have become more consistent and one individual in particular could end the fall months as a legitimate superstar.
And if everyone delivers on their potential, then a national title isn't totally out of the question.
* * *
Despite some teams venturing to the Griak Invitational, the Joe Piane Invitational or the Virginia Invitational, the BYU women didn't truly start their 2023 cross country season until mid-October when they raced at Pre-Nationals.
The Cougars' first legitimate test of last fall featured a battle against teams such as Oregon, Arkansas, Virginia and Tennessee. And while the BYU women were certainly favored to take home the win, we weren't expecting their victory to be as convincing as it was.
Carmen Alder had the race of her life, stunning the field with an upset victory over a handful of women who had proven to be more aerobic-centric. But the more impressive part may have been the fact that the Cougars put their entire top-five in the top-10 portion of the results!
Jenna Hutchins (5th), Aubrey Frentheway (7th), Lexy Halladay-Lowry (9th) and Riley Chamberlain (10th) put together some of the best pack-running that we would see all season long. In the end, that dominant mix of firepower and depth gave the Cougars a score of 32 points, easily taking the win over runner-up Arkansas by a margin of 58 points.
Simply put, BYU didn't just look "good" at Pre-Nationals -- they looked scary-good.
However, the BIG 12 XC Championships would pose a greater challenge to BYU. In their first season as members of the BIG 12 Conference, the Cougars would battle an eventual podium team in Oklahoma State. Who would come out on top? As far as firepower was concerned, the Cowgirls proved to be supreme. Not only did Taylor Roe and Billah Jepkirui go 1-2 in the final results, but veteran Molly Born also secured a fantastic 5th place finish as well.
And yet, despite the top-heavy lineup, BYU's depth proved to be too much.
Lexy Halladay-Lowry (4th) was able to counteract the scoring of Molly Born while the rest of her teammates crowded the top-10. Hutchins (6th), Alder (7th), Frentheway (8th) and Chamberlain (10th) packed together for most of the race. The Cougars' sixth and seventh runners, Sadie Sargent (13th) and Carlee Hansen (14th), also had excellent races, further displacing Oklahoma State's final two scorers.
When the dust cleared and the scores were settled, the BYU women emerged victorious with their first-ever BIG 12 title, narrowly defeating Oklahoma State by just four points. It was that result which led us to believe that the Cougars were podium favorites going into the remaining portion of the season.
After easily making it out of the Mountain regional meet, the Cougars prepared themselves for the national meet. There, they would hope to make a statement by putting themselves on the podium and maybe giving both NAU and NC State a run for their money.
That, however, didn't happen.
The BYU women struggled a good bit at the NCAA XC Championships. An overly aggressive start through the first couple of kilometers was likely the culprit behind their tough outing.
Aubrey Frentheway (14th) had a phenomenal race, providing potent low-stick scoring while Carlee Hansen (66th) had a better-than-expected performance. The issue, however, is that the rest of the Cougars' lineup simply fell apart.
The final three BYU scorers would place 103rd, 146th and 176th to close out their day. That, unfortunately, gave the Provo-based women a truthfully grim 14th place finish to conclude their once-promising fall campaign.
* * *
It seems fairly obvious that the BYU women were far better last fall than what their national meet performance would suggest. They easily trounced numerous top-15 programs at Pre-Nationals and took a win over a podium squad at the BIG 12 XC Championships.
At their best, they were absolutely a top-four team in the country.
Thankfully, it's a new year. The Cougars can enter the fall of 2024 with a clean slate and more experience. BYU still retains much of their core talent from last year and their most crucial scorers have made significant improvements.
Of course, there are still some departures from last year's group that will likely sting as far as scoring potency is concerned. First and foremost among them is Aubrey Frentheway, one of the more reliable All-American veterans in the country who placed 14th at last year's national meet.
Not having Frentheway is a challenging loss. Sure, this team does have multiple women who could emerge as low-sticks, but having a top-half All-American talent is especially valuable for a team looking to earn their place on the podium.
The other loss is Sadie Sargent, someone who was a backend contributor for her team throughout last fall. Believe it or not, Sargent was only a scorer for her squad at last year's national meet. Other than that, she was the team's sixth or seventh runner.
But truthfully, with the amount of depth and roster options that BYU has, not having a backend piece like Sargent (while not ideal) isn't the end of the world by any means.
* * *
Lexy Halladay-Lowry will likely be the team's top scorer this fall. We say that not because of what she did last fall or the year prior (when she was an All-American), but because of what she did on the track this past winter and spring, specifically the latter.
On the indoor oval, Halladay-Lowry produced strong marks of 4:31 (mile) and 8:51 (3k). She was also an All-American in the 3k and the 5k at the NCAA Indoor Championships. But once the BYU veteran hit the outdoor oval (where she would race unattached), she evolved into a completely different (and better) runner.
The Cougar star went on to post jaw-dropping times of 9:22 in the steeplechase and 15:02 over 5000 meters! She qualified for the steeplechase finals at the USA Olympic Trials where she secured a 9th place finish.
Halladay-Lowry has reached a completely new tier of fitness. Her times suggest that she'll be, at the very least, a top-10 runner in the NCAA this fall. And while her career history of racing on the grass hasn't shown tons of consistency, it's also hard to say that she's the same runner that she was this time last year.
For the most part, BYU now has a replacement for Aubrey Frentheway as far as scoring roles are concerned. In fact, Halladay-Lowry will likely be better than Frentheway if she wasn't already. And thankfully, with so many other women emerging as probable low-sticks this fall, it feels like the Cougars haven't truly lost any scoring value from last year.
Jenna Hutchins is a key name who we're very high on this fall. Yes, it's true, she had a few struggles with consistency as a freshman and her national meet showing at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships wasn't great.
Even so, Hutchins has seemingly evolved into a runner who is far more comfortable with how she races. Her fitness, of course, is flat-out better as well.
On the track, the former high school superstar ran times of 8:55 (3k), 15:30.99 (5k) and 32:44 (10k). She placed 9th over 5000 meters at the indoor national meet and earned a 6th place All-American honor over 10,000 meters at the outdoor national meet.
Hutchins doesn't need to be a top-10 runner in order for BYU to be a podium team (or even a title threat) this fall. In fact, she may not even need to be a top-20 talent. But if this BYU redshirt sophomore can become an established and potent All-American -- and we think she can -- then it's going to take a rather large collapse at the backend of this lineup for the Cougars to not finish on the podium.
Carmen Alder is probably the biggest x-factor on this team. She could be the one who determines just how BYU's ceiling rises.
We say that because Alder stunned the country last fall with a monster win at Pre-Nationals. Her 7th place showing at the BIG 12 XC Championships was a strong result as well, but her national meet performance was very poor.
It seems fair to say that Alder's national meet effort from last fall was a simple fluke. You can't win Pre-Nationals by accident -- that's a huge regular season victory. A new 4:33 (mile) PR this past winter also put her on the national stage before she was redshirted in the spring.
There were only three high-emphasis races that we saw Alder (and all of BYU) compete in last fall and one of those races was clearly not a proper indication of her fitness. She did find success on the indoor oval, but she largely focused on the middle distances. And of course, without racing this past spring, it's hard to know what her current fitness is like.
If Alder is firing on all cylinders, then she is absolutely an All-American runner. That is largely why we're claiming that BYU will have a shot at the national title in November.
Riley Chamberlain is mainly known for her prowess on the track, but she was fairly underrated on the grass last fall. Snagging 10th place finishes at both Pre-Nationals and the BIG 12 XC Championships would make her a fringe low-stick for a number of teams found in our rankings. Of course, like many of her teammates, she struggled a bit on the national stage.
During the winter months, Chamberlain was outstanding, splitting 4:27 on the anchor leg of BYU's DMR to give her relay the national title. She also ran marks of 2:03 (800), 4:30 (mile) and 8:51 (3k), eventually earning a 6th place All-American honor in the latter event.
Her spring campaign was still solid, although it did feel like her best races took place on the indoor oval.
It would not at all surprise us if Chamberlain was an All-American this fall. In fact, we have her listed as an "Honorable Mention" name in our individual preseason cross country rankings. Her 3k success signals that she can be a top-40 talent and she often ran fairly well last fall alongside her teammates. At the BIG 12 XC Championships, for instance, BYU's top-five time spread was just 26 seconds.
* * *
BYU's above-mentioned quartet is scary-good. If all of those women are running at their best, then they could absolutely lead this team to a national title victory in November. Of course, it takes five runners to post a final score. And thankfully for the Cougars, they have plenty of options.
Carlee Hansen was quietly very strong in the postseason last fall. Despite emerging as the team's seventh runner at the BIG 12 XC Championships, she still finished in 14th place on that stage. And once she reached the national meet, Hansen secured a highly promising 66th place result to comfortably beat expectations.
After running a 4:33 (mile) PR on the indoor oval, Hansen ran unattached in the spring, posting a 4:11 (1500) personal best.
All signs are pointing upwards for Hansen. She had two cross country races last fall that would have made her a scorer for 99% of teams in the NCAA. The former UNC runner also boosted her overall fitness on the track and it showed via her new personal bests.
If Hansen can simply be a stable and reliable backend runner who ensures that the scoring doesn't run away from BYU, then that will be huge. Of course, if she does make another leap on the grass, then...could she be an All-American? That seems like a bit of a stretch, but it's not unrealistic, either.
Carmen Riano is a valuable new addition to BYU's team from Miami (OH). The two-time outdoor national meet qualifier in the steeplechase has run 9:46 in that event. She also boasts a 15:50 (5k) PR and qualified for the 2022 cross country national meet as an individual.
Everything that we said about Hansen can largely be said about Riano. The latter still needs to prove herself a bit more on the grass, but having as much scoring insurance as possible will be necessary for a BYU team where a few women have been a touch inconsistent at times.
Given her accolades, Riano could be a more-than-serviceable fifth scorer if she's called upon to fill that role. It's not entirely clear what her ceiling is on the grass, but it does seem safe to say that she will be in this team's top-seven in some capacity this fall.
Speaking of steeplechasers, Taylor Lovell could be a much more impactful name this fall than some people realize. Her breakout spring campaign resulted in her running a 9:48 PR over the barriers and water pits as well as placing 9th in the finals of that event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships back in June.
For the most part, Lovell's talent on the grass is one big question mark. Outside of a few inconsequential meets in the fall of 2022, we haven't truly seen what this rising BYU runner can do on the grass now that she has reached this tier of her fitness.
It's plenty possible that Lovell remains as a non-factor this fall and continues to refine her talent for the spring of 2025. Of course, it's also very possible that she emerges as a high-impact scorer and gives the Cougars a complete top-five void of any holes or flaws.
Other names like Destiny Everett, Anastaysia Davis, Jacey Farmer and Taylor Rohatinsky are all older distance talents who have each had multiple moments of promise. We don't expect them to be cracking the team's top-five, but if one of these ladies truly broke out in a massive way this fall, I don't think it would leave us completely shocked.
It's a similar story for women who were star-caliber recruits over the last two years. Underclassmen such as Grace Hutchison, Avalon Meacham, Addie Meldrum, Andie Aagard and Nelah Roberts all hold exciting pedigree. And given BYU's history of development, there is likely going to be one woman from this group who jumps out and boosts their fitness at a rate far faster than we were/are expecting.
* * *
This year's BYU team reminds me a lot of the Cougars' 2021 squad which won the NCAA Winter XC Championships during the pandemic-altered year. Sure, that year's squad was probably a little bit better, but in terms of structure and depth, the BYU women are arguably just as complete of a group this fall as they were three years ago.
A handful of things need to happen in order for Coach Diljeet Taylor's group to secure yet another national title. But unlike a few other teams, those "need to happen" scenarios are all fairly realistic for BYU.
Would it surprise you if Halladay-Lowry, Hutchins, Alder and Chamberlain were each All-Americans in November? Would it surprise you if BYU was able to find a fifth scorer who could finish among the top-70 at the national meet like Hansen did last year? Would it surprise you if one of the younger women took a big step forward and emerged as a potent scorer for this squad?
I asked myself each of those questions. And when I truly thought about it, I couldn't say that I would be surprised with any (or all) of the above scenarios actually happening over the next few months.
