BYU experienced a number of highlights and historic feats during the 2024-25 athletic season. Here are some of our favorites.
What a year it’s been for BYU.
During the 2024-25 athletic campaign, Cougar teams and athletes have won championships, made history, gone viral and captured the attention of the sports world as a whole. If you were to define a “banner year” for BYU athletics, it may as well be 2024-25.
Before turning the page to 2025-26 and the incoming fall sports season, here’s a look back at 10 of the most notable stories out of Provo from the past year.
Men and women’s cross-country teams make history in winning national championships together
It was a clean sweep for BYU.
The Cougars’ men and women’s cross-country teams each won their respective national championship in November, becoming the first school in two decades to boast both championships in the same year.
The men’s team led from start to finish, placing five runners in the top 50 — Casey Clinger (sixth), Creed Thompson (12th), Joey Nokes (31st), Lucas Bons (39th) and Davin Thompson (50th) to earn 124 total points.
The women’s team rallied late to clinch a dramatic victory, with Lexy Lowry (14th) Riley Chamberlain (31st), Carmen Alder (39th), Taylor Rohatinsky (43rd) and Carlee Hansen (49th) all finishing in the top 50 for 147 points.
For the men, it was their second-ever national championship, with the women collecting their sixth in program history and third in the past five years.
Football defies expectations, finishes 11-2 with Alamo Bowl victory
Kalani Sitake’s squad was picked 13th in the Big 12 preseason poll, only to finish the season ranked No. 13 in the country.
The Cougars opened the year with nine-straight wins, including upsets over College Football Playoff participant SMU and No. 13 Kansas State along with dramatic finishes against Baylor, Oklahoma State and rival Utah.
Though BYU fell just short of a Big 12 title game berth, the Cougars thrashed Colorado by a 36-14 margin in the most-watched Alamo Bowl in history.
Women’s soccer and volleyball each continue longtime success by reaching NCAA Tournament
This past year was business as usual for BYU women’s soccer and volleyball.
For the 18th time in 20 seasons, women’s soccer reached the NCAA Tournament.
Similarly, women’s volleyball went dancing for the 13th-consecutive year.
Soccer finished with a 9-7-5 final record and No. 19 ranking, with Avery Frischknecht and Allie Fryer earning All-Big 12 First Team honors.
Volleyball went 19-10 on the year — with a 12-6 mark in conference play — and saw Claire Little and Brielle Kemavor each be selected to the All-Big 12 First Team.
Women’s track and field wins distance medley relay national championship
To no one’s surprise, BYU’s running success isn’t just limited to cross-country.
For the second-straight year and third time in five years, the Cougars captured the women’s distance medley relay national championship with a record-setting performance.
Jenna Hutchins, Sami Oblad, Tessa Buswell and Riley Chamberlain teamed up to finish with a time of 10:45.34 — the best mark in meet history — to beat runner-up Oregon by less than a second.
Chamberlain’s closing mile time of 4:25.12 propelled BYU from fourth place to first, passing Oregon in the final 300 meters.
Men’s basketball opens the Kevin Young era with a Sweet 16 berth
Kevin Young’s first year in Provo will go down as one of the most exciting in program history — and it may be just the beginning.
The former NBA assistant coach turned head man at BYU led the Cougars to a 26-10 final mark, finishing fourth in the loaded Big 12, No. 13 in the national rankings and reaching the Sweet 16 for third time since 1981 and first since 2011.
Young’s high-octane offense finished No. 23 nationally in scoring with an average of 81.4 points per game, as BYU scored 171 points in victories over VCU and Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament to be one of the final 16 teams standing.
Under Young, the Cougars have begun attracting elite basketball prospects to Provo, with the first of the bunch, Egor Demin, going one and done and being drafted No. 8 overall by the Brooklyn Nets in June.
James Corrigan wins 3,000-meter steeplechase national title
BYU may as well call itself “Steeplechase U,” and James Corrigan is the latest reason why.
Corrigan became BYU’s newest national champion with a winning performance in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, clocking in at 8:16.41 to mark the fourth-fastest time in NCAA history.
With a 61-second showing in his final 400 meters, Corrigan shot to the front of the pack to become the fifth Cougar to win the steeplechase title.
Lee Cummard is hired as BYU women’s basketball’s newest head coach
For Tom Holmoe’s final major move at BYU, he turned to a familiar face to reboot the school’s women’s basketball program.
Cougars legend Lee Cummard was named BYU’s new head coach in March, taking the helm of a team he’d been an assistant for since 2019.
Cummard will build the program around Delaney Gibb, the unanimous Big 12 Freshman of the Year this past season after averaging 17.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game and shooting 39.5% from 3-point range.
Men’s golf finishes No. 13 at the NCAA Championship
Golf at BYU is trending in the right direction.
The Cougars ended the season on a heater to finish tied for 13th in the NCAA championship, marking the program’s best national finish in 20 years.
Veterans Simon Kwon, Tyson Shelley and Peter Kim will return to BYU next season, where they’ll be joined by Lone Peak product and No. 4-ranked high school prospect Kihei Akina, who is a Cougars commit.
AJ Dybantsa, Ryder Lyons commit to BYU on ESPN
For as exciting as BYU’s present is, the future in Provo appears even brighter, partially thanks to two young men.
Consensus top basketball prospect AJ Dybantsa announced his commitment to the Cougars live on ESPN’s “First Take” in December, while five-star quarterback recruit Ryder Lyons pledged to BYU during a June appearance on the network’s “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Dybantsa and Lyons may very well be the two most-heralded recruits to join each of their respective programs. But even more than that, their signings signal BYU’s effort to become an even greater player within the new college sports landscape.
Tom Holmoe retires, with longtime wingman Brian Santiago selected as his successor
It truly is the end of an era at BYU.
Tom Holmoe announced his retirement in February, concluding his unprecedented two-decade tenure as the school’s athletic director, which saw him navigate football independence, hire a number of notable coaches and score BYU a Big 12 invite, among many other various accomplishments.
BYU’s new athletic director is Brian Santiago, Holmoe’s longtime “right hand man” whose promotion was announced by the school in May.
“We‘re fortunate to have an incredible amount of positive momentum in the athletic department. I’m passionate — and people know that I’m passionate — about continuing the excellence and protecting the integrity of this great university,“ Santiago said at his introductory press conference. ”The athletic department has over 100 years of history. We‘ve watched some of the greatest players and coaches in the history of sport win at the highest level, doing it the right way. We were born to win. ... The future is bright.”
Category: General Sports
