BYU cross country has a local season opener after all.
The No. 4 women and No. 9 men will race Friday, Sept. 4, at the Utah Valley Invitational in Orem. Admission is free at Scera Park. The women’s three-mile race starts at 10 a.m. Mountain, and the men’s three-mile race follows at 10:45.
Those details arrived after BYU released its original five-meet schedules in July. The women’s calendar had started Sept. 26 at Oklahoma State, while the men’s had started Sept. 19 in Terre Haute. Friday is now the only local chance to see either team before both programs leave Utah for the rest of the regular season.
It is a useful addition for fans. It is also a different kind of race from the bigger meets waiting later this month. Scera Park should introduce BYU’s available depth without pretending one short September result settled the championship lineup.
BYU cross country race times and links
| Race | Start | Course | Fan access |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 4 BYU women at UVU Invitational | Friday, Sept. 4, 10 a.m. MT | Three miles, Scera Park in Orem | Free admission; course map |
| No. 9 BYU men at UVU Invitational | Friday, Sept. 4, 10:45 a.m. MT | Three miles, Scera Park in Orem | Free admission; course map |
Utah Valley says results will be posted through Sporttrax. BYU’s official event feeds independently list the women at 10 a.m. and the men at 10:45 in Orem. Fans should check BYU’s women’s cross-country hub and men’s cross-country hub for any late change.
No broadcast is listed in the BYU or Utah Valley meet information. This is a show-up-or-follow-the-results event, not an ESPN+ morning.
The women’s race is BYU’s first depth receipt
Diljeet Taylor’s team enters the season ranked fourth after finishing second at the 2025 NCAA Championships. That makes every September race tempting to read as a national-title referendum. Friday is much smaller than that.
BYU’s meet preview names Nelah Roberts, Taylor Lovell and Zariel Macchia among the returners expected to lead the group. Jenna Hutchins is also set to return to cross-country competition. Lexi Goff-Thompson, Emerald Kehr, Tessa Buswell and Addie Meldrum give the Cougars more returning options, while Northern Arizona transfer Karrie Baloga and freshman Macy Wingard are the two newcomers named in the preview.
That list is more interesting than a preseason ranking by itself. BYU’s national runner-up finish already established the ceiling. Scera Park can begin showing how Taylor will fill the spaces around the front of the lineup.
Roberts and Lovell both appear on the current women’s roster and were part of BYU’s 2025 NCAA scoring five. Baloga and Wingard add two new variables, but a three-mile opener cannot assign either one a November job. The fair question is whether the returning group and newcomers stay close enough to give Taylor real choices before the Cowboy Jamboree.
The team result matters less than the shape of BYU’s finish. A tight run of Cougar jerseys would be useful evidence that the defending Big 12 champion has several ways to build a five-runner score. One fast individual time on a new September course would tell us much less.
The men have a crowded top-seven audition
Ed Eyestone’s men finished 11th at last year’s NCAA Championships and return four of the five runners who scored there. BYU’s preview identifies Tayvon Kitchen as the returning lead runner, with James Corrigan, Noah Jenkins and Max Davis also back from that scoring group.
The intrigue starts behind them. Isaac Hedengren enters cross country after placing eighth in the 5,000 meters at June’s NCAA outdoor championships. Carter Cutting, the national indoor mile champion and BYU record holder in that event, is another established track runner trying to earn a place in the cross-country seven.
Then there are freshmen Malachi Schoenherr and Danny Simmons. BYU notes Schoenherr’s five high school All-America honors and Simmons’ two Gatorade national player-of-the-year awards before his church mission. Those are legitimate background facts. They are not college cross-country results.
Friday supplies the first current comparison. The three-mile distance and local field will not mimic the pressure of Terre Haute or Wisconsin, but the race can show who is ready to stay connected to BYU’s returning scorers now. The men’s roster is deep enough that finishing order inside the team may carry more information than the overall team margin.
The most revealing gap will be between BYU’s fourth and eighth finishers. Kitchen, Corrigan, Jenkins and Davis give the Cougars a known NCAA group. Hedengren, Cutting and the freshmen can make the travel decisions difficult. That is exactly what a local opener should do.
Utah Valley gives the race a real front end
The host is not there to hold a stopwatch for BYU.
Utah Valley’s men’s preview centers on Sila Kiplagat, the 2025 WAC Freshman of the Year in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. Wyatt Mortensen, Porter Whitworth, Alex Hartshorn and Jayden Fitzgarrald also return after representing the Wolverines at the WAC or regional championships.
Former BYU runner Mark Boyle is listed for his Utah Valley debut. That adds a familiar name without turning the meet into a rivalry stunt.
On the women’s side, Utah Valley brings back Artana Nice, Elisabeth Ferrell and Julie Moore from its WAC Championship group. Newcomers Caren Kipsirat and Reagan Doman both reached NCAA outdoor track regionals, and Kipsirat owns Utah Valley’s steeplechase school record.
BYU should be favored based on the national rankings and returning NCAA production. Still, the front of each race has enough proven runners to keep the Cougars from treating the morning as a controlled workout.
What counts as a good opener
A sweep would look nice on the results page. It would not answer every lineup question.
For the women, watch how many runners finish within reach of Roberts, Lovell and the other established options. The season plan still points toward Oklahoma State on Sept. 26, where BYU will see the course that hosts the Big 12 Championships.
For the men, watch the order after the returning NCAA scorers. BYU goes to the John McNichols Invitational on Sept. 19 and then Nuttycombe on Oct. 9. Those fields will punish a large scoring gap. Friday can show who has the first chance to close it.
The late addition also corrects an easy fan assumption. BYU’s original schedules looked like road-only regular seasons. Now there is one free local morning, two races separated by 45 minutes and a first look at both ranked teams.
Get to Scera Park before 10 a.m. if you can. If not, keep Sporttrax open. The final score will be worth recording, but the cluster of BYU finishers behind the leaders should tell us more.
Sources and further reading
- BYU Athletics: No. 4 women set to open at the UVU Invitational for the women’s start time, free admission, course and named BYU runners.
- BYU Athletics: No. 9 men open at the Utah Valley Invitational for the men’s start time, course history, returning scorers and newcomers.
- Utah Valley Athletics: Wolverines open the 2026 season with the UVU Invitational for independent confirmation of both race times, the results provider and Utah Valley’s returning runners and newcomers.
- Official BYU Athletics API: women’s event 25416 and men’s event 25392 for the Orem location, scheduled status and UTC start times.
- BYU Sport Nuts: the original 2026 cross-country schedule analysis for the larger regular-season and postseason path.
