RESULTS: WOMEN | MEN
BYU RECAP | PORTLAND RECAP | SAN FRANCISCO RECAP

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A truly historic morning for the West Coast Conference at the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships at the E.B. Tom Sawyer State Park. Two teams - San Francisco women and the Portland men posted NCAA runner-up showings, while the BYU men also reached the podium with a third-place finish.

Entering today's championships, only one WCC program had ever posted a podium finish: Portland in 2014 (third place). Four teams competing in Louisville rewrote the WCC record books with three podium trips.

WCC CROSS COUNTRY NOTABLES

- Portland men established a program-best finish with a runner-up showing with 127 points. NAU (74) won the title for the second straight season. The previous high for the Pilots was third in 2014. The 2017 West Regional Champions competed made their 18th overall nationals appearance.
- The Pilots have now posted two podium finishes in the last four seasons.
- This is the best NCAA postseason finish for Portland since the women's soccer squad won the NCAA Championship in 2005 - the second title for the Pilots in a two-year span.
- San Francisco women achieved the highest finish and highest ranking (No. 3) in program history this season. The Dons posted a sixth-place finish last season and have competed in five national meets - all since 2011.
- This is the best-ever NCAA Championship showing for a USF women's program and is the top showing since the Dons men's soccer program captured the 1980 NCAA Title.
- San Francisco (105 points) was 15 points behind NCAA Champion New Mexico and 34 points in front of third-place Colorado.
- The BYU men's third-place finish was the best for the program since posting a runner-up finish in the 1993 event. The Cougars also own a pair of fourth-place finishes as a WCC member (2011 & 2014).
- BYU women placed 11th in their third straight NCAA Nationals appearance. The Cougars finished 10th last season.
- WCC student-athletes accounted for a total of nine All-American honors.
- Six men's cross country student-athletes achieved All-American status: Emmanuel Roudolff-Levisse, Portland (11th/29:38.9), Jeff Thies, Portland (14th/29:40.62), Casey Clinger, BYU (24th/29:46.32), Nick Hauger, Portland (26th/29:46.69), Connor McMillan, BYU (30th/29:52.29) and Rory Linkletter, BYU (29:59.04)
- Three women's cross country student-athletes achieved All-American status and all were Dons: Charlotte Taylor, San Francisco (3rd/19:28.6) Weronika Pyzik, San Francisco (5th/19:34.0) and Isabelle Brauer (15th/19:50.1)

WCC NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTABLES
- Since April, WCC has posted no fewer than four NCAA National Runner-Up showings in three sports courtesy of four institutions: Men's Basketball (Gonzaga), Beach Volleyball (Pepperdine) and Men's and Women's Cross Country (BYU, San Francisco).
- The WCC has posted a NCAA National Runner-Up in three of the last four academic years - Women's Volleyball (BYU, 2014).

WOMEN'S RACE RECAPS
SAN FRANCISCO - USFDons.com
The University of San Francisco women's cross country team finishes its historic season with a second place finish at the NCAA National Championships, the best finish by the USF cross country program.

Senior Charlotte Taylor led the way for the Dons again, finishing the race in third place with a time of 19:28.6. With that finish, Taylor adds her third All-American honor, and her third consecutive in both cross country and track & field. Taylor battled New Mexico's Ednah Kurgat, Washington's Amy-Eloise Neale and Boise State's Allie Ostrander for the top spot, but Kurgat took home the individual title, maintaining her undefeated record in the 2017 cross country season.

Joining Taylor with All-American honors was the duo of junior Weronika Pyzik and sophomore Isabelle Brauer , finishing fifth and 15th, respectively. The total of three All-American is most by USF, doubling the total from three to six (Laura Suur '11, Charlotte Taylor '16, Alex Short '16).

Rounding out the scorers for the Dons was seniors Marie Bouchard (49th - 20:20.5) and Lizzie Bird (72nd - 20:29.6). Junior Tatjana Schulte and freshman Lea Meyer crossed the line 129th and 176th, respectively.

For the second time in three years, the Lobos from New Mexico take home the NCAA National Championship, finishing with a team score of 90 points. Rounding out the top three was Colorado, finishing with a team total of 139. Fellow West Region schools Stanford and Oregon capped the top five teams, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

BYU - BYUCougars.com
Courtney Wayment led the charge for the No. 14 women with a 71st place finish (20:29.38). Kristi Rush followed in 76th (20:31.39) with Laura Young in 80th (20:34.06), Ashleigh Warner in 114th (20:49.84) and Whittni Orton in 115th (20:50.6). Olivia Hoj and Sara Musselman also ran for the Cougars. Due to an earlier injury, this was Orton's first time racing for the Cougars and her first collegiate race ever.

This was the first time since 2004 and 2005 that the women have had back-to-back top-15 finishes. The No. 14 Cougars managed to beat out some of the top-ranked teams including No. 6 Arkansas, No. 9 Providence, No. 10 Penn State and No. 13 Villanova.

MEN'S RACE RECAPS
PORTLAND - PortlandPilots.com
Led by All-America individual performances from Emmanuel Roudolff-Levisse, Jeff Thies and Nick Hauger, the Portland Pilots cross country program added to its remarkable history by finishing second as a team at the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday.

Portland entered the race ranked No. 4 nationally, but trailed only NCAA champion Northern Arizona at the finish line of the 10K race hosted at Tom Sawyer State Park. NAU finished with 74 team points followed by Portland (127), BYU (165), Stanford (221) and Arkansas (259). Justyn Knight of Syracuse was the individual champion.

It marks the second podium finish for Rob Conner's program, which made its 18th team appearance at the national meet. Portland's previous best was a third-place showing in 2014.

Roudolff-Levisse, a sophomore who won the NCAA West Regional last weekend, was Portland's top individual finisher in 11th-place with a time of 29:38.90. Thies, a senior, was on his heels in 14th-place, while the junior Hauger closed hard to come in 26th place overall.

The trio joins 15 other Pilots to earn NCAA Cross Country All-America honors. It is the first time in program history that three Pilots have earned All-America status in the same year.

Senior transfer Matt Welch made an impressive debut for the Pilots and crossed the finish line in 46th place, while Caleb Webb was Portland's fifth scorer and finished 54th overall.

The runner-up finish caps a phenomenal cross country season that featured Portland starting the season ranked outside of the top 20, placing second at the prestigious Nuttycombe Invitational, earning its highest in-season national ranking (No. 3) ever, and claiming the second NCAA West Regional title (1993).

Conner, the five-time West Region Coach of the Year, has been at the helm of Portland for 28 years and has now has guided the Pilots eight Top 10 finishes at nationals.

BYU - BYUCougars.com
BYU finished third with 165 points and the women finished 11th with 342 points at the NCAA National Championships on a windy Saturday morning at the E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park.

Freshman Casey Clinger led the pack with a 24th place finish (29:46.32). He was followed by Connor McMillan in 30th (29:52.29), Rory Linkletter in 39th (29:59.04), Daniel Carney in 42nd (30:03.5) and Kramer Morton in 65th (30:21.64). Jonathan Harper and Clayton Young also competed for the Cougars.

The No. 2 ranked Cougars competed against the top-rated teams in the country including the defending champions No. 1 Northern Arizona, which came in first again this year. BYU's third-place finish was the second-best finish in program history and the best since its second-place finish in 1993.