Stan State Hall of Famer guides BYU to women’s cross country national title
Diljeet Taylor had quite the legacy at Stanislaus State.
Taylor, a 2020 Hall of Fame inductee, was a three-time All-American in outdoor and indoor track and field from 2000 to 2003 and coached 16 All-Americans from 2007-16.
Now in her fifth year as the women’s cross country coach at BYU, the Cougars won the national title on Monday at the 2021 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
“I’m just extremely proud and humbled to be their coach,” Taylor said in an interview with byucougars.com. “They’re running for something bigger than themselves. When you can get women that step on the line empowered, strong and really feeling in their hearts they can win, that’s when you see magic happen. That’s what we witnessed today.”
Senior Anna Camp was the top Cougar, finishing 11th in 20 minutes, 28 seconds, over the 10,000-meter course.
BYU finished with 96 team points, more than 60 points ahead of second-place NC State (161).
It was the school’s fifth title and first since 2003 and BYU has finished in the top 10 in four of the five years under Taylor’s leadership, including a runner-up finish in 2020.
