Alan Lawrence Culpepper is an American distance runner and two time United States Olympian. Along with competing on four World Championship teams, his accomplishments include finishing fourth in the Boston Marathon in 2005, winning the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon and finishing 12th at the 2004 Olympic marathon in Athens. His 2:09:41 at the 2002 Chicago Marathon tied him with Alberto Salazar for the fastest ever debut marathon by an American, and remains his fastest marathon. Culpepper has won three U.S. Cross Country titles and three track titles. His personal bests include 3:55.1 for the mile, 13:25 for 5k and 27:33 in the 10k.
Dathan James Ritzenhein is a retired American long-distance runner, and current head coach of the On Athletics Club (OAC). He held the American record in the 5,000 metres (12:56.27) from 2009 to 2010, until it was broken by Bernard Lagat. He is a three-time national cross country champion with wins at the USA Cross Country Championships in 2005, 2008 and 2010. Formerly a Nike athlete for the majority of his professional career, Dathan joined the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project team in 2017. In early May 2020, he announced his retirement from competition. He signed with the Swiss shoe brand On shortly thereafter in June 2020 and currently acts as the coach for the OAC in Boulder, Colorado.
Adam Goucher is a retired American cross-country and track and field athlete. He ran for the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the men's 5000 meters. Goucher primarily competed in distance events and is featured in Running With The Buffaloes, a book revolving around the 1998 season of the University of Colorado cross country team.
Ryan Hall is a retired American long-distance runner who holds the U.S. record in the half marathon. With his half marathon record time (59:43), he became the first U.S. runner to break the one-hour barrier in the event. He is also the only American to run a sub-2:05 marathon. However, this time is not eligible to be a record due to the course being point-to-point and a net-downhill course. Hall won the marathon at the 2008 United States Olympic trials and placed tenth in the Olympic marathon in Beijing.
Galen Rupp is an American long-distance runner. He competed in the Summer Olympics in 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2021 in Tokyo. He won the silver medal in the men's 10,000 meters in London and the bronze medal in the men's marathon in Rio de Janeiro. Rupp competed for the University of Oregon and trained under Alberto Salazar as a member of the Nike Oregon Project. He won the 2017 Chicago Marathon, becoming the first American to do so since Khalid Khannouchi in 2002. Rupp won the marathon at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta with a time of 2:09:20, and qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, where he finished eighth.
The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the Big 12 Conference for all sports except men's volleyball which is a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. They were a member of the West Coast Conference from 2011 to 2022. From 1999 to 2011 they were a member of the Mountain West Conference and before the formation of the MW, the Cougars competed in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the Mountain States Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference. BYU officially joined the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2023.
Shalane Grace Flanagan is an American long-distance runner, coach, Olympic medalist and New York City Marathon champion. She was the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon since 1977. She holds the NACAC area records in both the 10k and 15k road races.
Brian Sell is a retired American long-distance runner who specialized in various long-distance track events before specializing as a marathoner in his professional career with Hansons-Brooks Distance Project. Sell represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the men's marathon. He attended Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania, where he ran on the Saint Francis University cross country team.
Henry Dinwoodey Marsh is a retired runner from the United States, who made four U.S. Olympic teams and represented his native country in the men's 3,000 meter Steeplechase in three Summer Olympics, from 1976 through 1988.
Chris Derrick is an American distance runner who won 3 consecutive US Cross Country Championships in 2013–15. He attended Stanford University, where he earned 14 All-American honors and holds an American junior record in the 5000 meters.
Scott Bauhs is an American professional distance runner sponsored by Asics and runs for Asics Aggies. He is a former Chico State runner for NCAA Division II athletics. He is the youngest American to complete both the four-minute mile and the 28-minute 10,000-meter run.
Juan Diego Estrada Constantino is a Mexican-American long-distance runner. He competed in the 10,000 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London for Mexico. After some confusion about his eligibility after becoming a U.S. citizen, he was excluded from the U.S. Olympic trials even though it was later known that Estrada was misinformed on his eligibility possibilities. Estrada resides in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Jorge Torres is an American long-distance and cross-country runner. He is a three-time runner-up at the U.S. Cross-Country Championships, a 2002 NCAA Cross Country Champion, and a 2006 U.S. Outdoor Champion for the 10,000 meters.
Luke Puskedra is an American long-distance runner who competes over distances ranging from 10,000 meters to the marathon.
Leonard Essau Korir is an American long-distance runner who competes over distances from 5000 meters to the marathon. He is a two-time NCAA champion, winning an indoor 5000 m title and outdoor 10,000 meters title in 2011 for the Iona Gaels. He gained United States citizenship and began competing for his adoptive nation in 2016.
Betty Jo Geiger is an American former long-distance runner who competed in events ranging from 3000-meter run to the marathon.
Ray Treacy is a former competitive distance runner and coach of collegiate and professional runners. He began coaching track and field and cross country at Providence College in the U.S. state of Rhode Island in 1984, and became the head coach in 1986.
Rory Linkletter is a Canadian long-distance runner. He represented Canada in the marathon at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. He holds a personal best of 2:08:01 set at the 2024 Seville Marathon making him the second fastest Canadian of all time over the distance. He formerly held the Canadian half marathon record from January to October 2022 set at the 2022 Houston Half Marathon.
Conner Blair Mantz is an American long-distance runner, who specializes in the marathon. He ran collegiately for Brigham Young University and won the 2020 and 2021 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Mantz was the winner of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. He has competed professionally for Nike since 2021.
The BYU Cougars men's cross country team represents BYU in the Big 12 Conference. Coached by Ed Eyestone since the 2000 season, the program has won one national championship in 2019. BYU runners have won the individual NCAA title four times: Eyestone in 1984, Josh Rohatinsky in 2006, and Conner Mantz in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. From 2011 to 2022, the Cougars were part of the West Coast Conference, and were conference champions 10 out of their 12 seasons. BYU joined the Big 12 Conference in 2023, and won the conference title and the 2024 national championship.
