IN HER FIRST FORAY over the steeple barriers this spring, BYU senior Lexy Halladay-Lowry made a splash, cutting more than 4 seconds off her best with a 9:18.05, a time that moved her to No. 5 in collegiate history.
She will definitely be a force in the NCAA steeple later this season, but that’s no shock to anyone who watched her at the NCAA Indoor, where she raced to 2nd in the 5000 and 3rd in the 3000. That made her the top American in both.
The steady drumbeat of success for the Idaho native has been increasing in intensity, something that is no accident for a veteran athlete in coach Diljeet Taylor’s program.
“Even on the recruiting visit, when she sat in my living room, she told me that I had potential to accomplish amazing things,” recalls Halladay-Lowry. “And even my freshman year, she sat me down in her office after a workout and told me that I would eventually have the opportunity to chase winning a national title. In the moment when she said that to me, it just seemed so far away.
“But, I mean, she was right. Even this past indoor season, I had a shot at chasing titles, and it’s just so cool to see that happening in my fifth year. I’ve had great success throughout my career, but I feel so lucky and blessed that my last season is going to be my best. And not everyone can say that, and not every program has athletes doing that all the time.
“You look at the history of BYU, and everyone who’s done well, they’ve done it in their fifth, sixth year. And that just attests to Coach Taylor’s training and her belief and her ability to develop people throughout the years.”
Halladay-Lowry’s high school career had been exceptional, no doubt. While at Mountain View High in Meridian, Idaho, she won 9 state titles, placed 4th at the Foot Locker Nationals, and clocked bests of 4:43.20 for the mile and 10:30.80 for 3200. But in her time in Provo, she has gone well beyond the expectations of many.
She ran her first steeple as a frosh, hitting 10:07.42. The next year, she got down to 9:55.65. The steady work really started to pay off in ’23, when she clocked a PR 9:41.85 for 4th in the NCAA, then improved to 9:31.39 to place 8th at the USATF Championships.
Last year, she had a successful indoor season, winning the Big 12 crown for 3000 and placing 5th in the NCAA Indoor 5000, then 4th in the 3000. She redshirted the outdoor season — “It wasn’t necessarily for the Olympic Trials,” she says. Rather, it would allow her to wrap up all her eligibility during this year’s campaign.
She improved to 15:02.89 in the 5000, then placed 9th in the Trials steeple with another PR, 9:22.77. It was a challenging experience, she says. “I built a lot of confidence going into the Trials last year. And I haven’t always been the greatest racer. Once I saw the top 3, 4 women go, it was really hard for me to regroup and continue to press on. I was in the top 4 or 5 until like a lap to go and then I faded to 9th.”
She adds, “I learned a lot from that race.”
Today’s Halladay-Lowry is not the same runner. She says what happened last fall was a transformative experience for her as a competitor. Leader of the Cougar squad that was tabbed by the coaches to win the national XC title, she picked up an injury in the weeks leading up to the race.
“I learned so much throughout the build for that race,” she says. “I was hurt and so I had to really focus on the team and the process and not thinking about the outcome. That really changed me as a runner for the better, because in cross country, all I could do was focus on what I could do and what I had done and just simply compete with everything I had.
What Halladay-Lowry could do at the harrier nationals coming off pool training was rather spectacular. She led BYU to the team title in 14th place individually. In a quintessential team effort, the Cougars cut down their score by 19 points over the final 2K to win by 17.
“And now that I do have the opportunity to run healthy, I can still use that attitude. Obviously I can run a lot faster, but it takes out just the uncertainty. Like, it doesn’t matter what I can’t do. All I can control is what I can do on the day. And if I know that I give 100% of whatever I have on the day, I can walk away happy. And having that mindset really helped me in indoor and even in this outdoor season. All you can control is what you can control. And that’s not much.”
In January, she ran a 14:57.63 for 5000 at Boston U. Two weeks later on Washington’s big indoor oval she clocked 8:40.63 for 3000. After capturing the 5000 at the Big 12 Indoor, she went for it all at the NCAA Indoor.
“My goal was to win,” she admits. “Looking back, I feel so honored to have been able to battle in the way that I did. I really competed and I’m very proud of the strides that I’ve made throughout my career at BYU, because past versions of Lexy have not always been able to race races like that. It’s taken a lot of time and patience and persistence to be able to show up at an NCAA starting line, ready to compete.”
Outdoors, her competitiveness continues. At the Bryan Clay 5000, she ran 2nd to Pamela Kosgei of New Mexico by less than a half-second, clocking 14:52.93. The next week came her steeple opener in 9:18.05, running alone for the last mile. Then, as May began, she churned out the fastest ever mile in Utah (high altitude) history with her 4:34.18 at the Robison Invitational.
“I’m just focusing on competing because, especially in championship racing, we don’t necessarily run the fastest time of the season,” she says. “At the end of the day, at NCAAs it’s about competing and knowing the smartest racer typically wins.”
She adds that her final season in the BYU uniform means “stepping up to the line, knowing that anyone can win and just gaining confidence throughout the season to be able to race in a lot of different ways so that no matter what happens, I can feel prepared in the race to compete in any way necessary to be fighting [on] the last lap.”
Will she add the 5000 to her dance card at nationals? “There have been some thoughts, but I ultimately don’t know what we’ll do. I’m going to trust Coach T to make the right decision.”
Halladay-Lowry will turn 24 in the weeks before the USATF meet. By then she will know what brand of shoes she will be wearing as a pro. “I’m currently in the talks with brands about a pro contract, just kind of figuring out what that’s going to look like. I am very lucky in the aspect that I will be able to have a professional career, which is a dream come true. And it’s so cool to see it becoming a reality.”
