Watch out, there’s a new girl gang in town.
BYU head women’s track and cross country coach Diljeet Taylor has announced the formation of a professional distance running training group, Taylor Made Elite, based in Provo, Utah. The group currently consists of BYU alumnae Courtney Wayment, Other Hearst Subscriptions.
Taylor has put together a strong coaching resume with this group of women over the past few years, as the Cougars won the 2020-2021 NCAA XC Championships team title and finished runners-up in 2019 and 2021 — the latter behind Orton Morgan’s individual NCAA XC title. Camp-Bennett won the 2021 NCAA 1,500m title, and Wayment racked up four NCAA titles in her tenure at BYU: 2022 steeplechase, 2022 indoor 5K, 2021 indoor 3K and she ran the anchor leg on the winning 2021 distance medley relay.
The group does not have a brand affiliation, as Wayment is sponsored by On Running and both Camp Bennett and Orton Morgan are sponsored by adidas. Birk Jarvis is currently unaffiliated and has not competed since the fall of 2019, when she placed sixth at the NCAA XC Championships. She gave birth to her second child in April of this year.
Wayment is the first member of the group to make a major impact on the professional scene. After breaking the collegiate record in the steeplechase with a 9:16.00 to win NCAAs, the now 24-year-old took runner-up honors at the USATF Outdoor Championships in 9:12.10 to qualify for her first World Championships team. She placed 12th in the final in Eugene, and capped her season with a personal best of 9:09.91 at the Monaco Diamond League meeting.
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Johanna Gretschel is a freelance writer and broadcaster living in Austin, Texas, who has covered elite track and field and running in all its forms. She contributes to Runner’s World, ESPN, Austin American-Statesman, FloTrack, MileSplit, Women’s Running and Podium Runner. Yes, she has run a marathon!
