Depth, dominance on display for BYU men, San Francisco women

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

The Brigham Young men were picture perfect.

The San Francisco women made it look as easy as 1-2-3.

And both programs continued to build momentum Friday at the West Coast Conference Championships in Oakland, Calif., in their respective quests for podium finishes Nov. 18 at the NCAA Division 1 finals in Louisville, Ky.

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Led by junior Connor McMillan winning in a course-record 23 minutes, 22.78 seconds, BYU swept the top five spots in the men's 8-kilometer race at Metropolitan Links Golf Course to produce its first 15-point effort at the championship meet since joining the conference in 2011. It was the 11th perfect score in West Coast men's finals history, nine of which have been achieved by Portland, which was runner-up with 58 points.

Daniel Carney, Casey Clinger, Rory Linkletter and Clayton Young were four across at the finish line, clocking 23:28.9 to 23:29.1, giving the Cougars a spread of less than seven seconds on their way to a third consecutive title and the fifth in seven years. Clinger, a two-time Nike Cross Nationals champion at American Fork UT, was recognized as the conference's top freshman.

After Portland had Jeff Thies (23:31.4) and Nick Hauger (23:31.6) place sixth and seventh, followed by San Francisco's Mohamed Aziz in eighth in 23:34.2, BYU showcased even more depth with Kramer Morton and Jonathan Harper both finishing in 23:35.9 to round out the top 10. Aziz helped San Francisco take third with 75 points.

San Francisco placed six women in the top 10, led by Charlotte Taylor, Weronika Pyzik and Isabelle Brauer taking the top three spots in the 6-kilometer race.

Taylor, the reigning Division 1 outdoor 10,000-meter champion, broke the course record by nearly 50 seconds, securing the victory in 19:10.5, with Pyzik clocking 19:30.2 and Brauer finishing in 19:40.2 to help the Dons capture their first championship since 2013 and sixth overall with a 20-51 victory over BYU.

Loyola Marymount, led by a fourth-place effort from Danielle Shanahan (19:53.6) was third with 86 points.

Marie Bouchard (20:01.1) was fifth, Elizabeth Bird (20:12.8) took ninth and Tatjana Schulte (20:22.4) placed 10th for San Francisco, which equaled the second-lowest score in women's championship meet history.

BYU had Courtney Wayment (20:02.1) and Laura Young (20:03.6) finish sixth and seventh, with Portland's Jasmijn Lau earning top freshman honors by placing eighth in 20:07.