The No. 7 BYU Cougars earned a third-place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wis., according to a report published Oct. 9, 2026. The team scored 146 points and saw all five of its scorers finish within the top 50 during the final race of the regular season held on Friday.
Sophomore Tayvon Kitchen secured a podium spot with a fifth-place finish, clocking a time of 22:37.3. This performance shattered the previous school record on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course by more than 33 seconds. The previous record was 23:10.4, set by Casey Clinger in 2024.
Senior James Corrigan finished 18th overall with a time of 23:02.2, marking his first time this season as the team's second scorer. His time was eight seconds faster than the previous school record held by Clinger. Other scorers for the Cougars included Noa Jenkins, who finished 34th, Dalton Mortensen, who finished 42nd, and Hunter Kitchen, who finished 47th.
The Cougars achieved several personal-best marks during the event, with 10 of the 13 runners setting new personal bests. These runners included Dalton Mortensen, Hunter Kitchen, Jefferson McMullin, Land Lambert, Carter Cutting, Malachi Schoenherr, Kyle Steadman, Danny Simmons, and Ethan Peterson.
In the B race, the Cougars scored 90 points to take second place overall. All five scorers in that race set personal-best times, led by Carter Cutting, who finished 10th with a time of 24:06.6. He was followed by Malachi Schoenherr, Kyle Steadman, Danny Simmons, and Ethan Peterson.
Head coach Ed Eyestone noted that the team showed a strong effort, particularly from the runners finishing second through fifth. He stated the team has three weeks to fine-tune fitness and work to close the gap. The Cougars beat No. 2 Iowa State, No. 8 Wake Forest, and No. 10 Florida, finishing behind only No. 1 New Mexico and No. 6 Colorado.
The Cougars are scheduled to begin their championship season on Sat., Oct. 31, when they travel to Stillwater, Okla., for the Big 12 Championships.
