SAN BRUNO, Calif. – The West Coast Conference has named its men’s and women’s Runners of the Week for October 1, 2019.
 
MALE RUNNER OF THE WEEK – CONNER MANTZ, SO. – BYU
Sophomore Conner Mantz won the Bill Dellinger Invitational individual title with a time of 23:24.7. He outdueled UCLA's Robert Brandt at the finish, as they had been going back and forth for the whole race. Mantz led the pack with Brandt for the entirety of the meet, which featured multiple ranked teams.
 
Mantz beat every runner from No. 7 Portland, No. 11 Oregon, No. 24 UCLA, No. 27 Air Force, No. 29 Villanova, RV Boise State, RV Texas and RV Furman. It is the second straight WCC Runner of the Week honor of the season for Mantz. The sophomore All-American earned National Athlete of the Week honors from the USTFCCCA on Monday.
 
Also Nominated: Justin Hazell, Portland; Max Smith, LMU; Andy Snyder, San Francisco
 
FEMALE RUNNER OF THE WEEK – WHITTNI ORTON, JR. – BYU
Junior Whittni Orton won the women’s 6K and led the No. 6 BYU women’s team to a win at the Bill Dellinger Invitational this past weekend in Springfield Oregon. The Cougars had a dominant win with 35 points—46 points lower than the second-place team. 
 
Orton held her spot in first for the entire race and finished with a career-best time of 19:25.8. This was the best individual and team finish at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in BYU school history. They finished ahead of 12 other schools, including No. 10 Oregon, No. 13 Boise State, No. 14 Furman and No. 24 UCLA. This is BYU's third-straight win of the 2019 season. 
 
Also Nominated: Kyla Danforth, LMU; Kaela Dishion, Saint Mary’s; Claire Manley, Gonzaga; Anna Pataki, Portland; Aoibhe Richardson, San Francisco
 
2019 WCC Runners of the Week 
September 30 – Conner Mantz, BYU & Whittni Orton, BYU
September 16 – Conner Mantz, BYU & Claire Manley, Gonzaga