Daniel Simmons commits to BYU

The Cougars are going to be loaded for some time to come.

Utah produces some great runners and they all dream of going to BYU.

Shocker! Who would have predicted this commitment!

Lol, I think everybody did.

Looking forward to him winning NCAAs as a freshman in 2028.

He'll make a great 23yo frosh!

BYU picked up a commitment from Landon Heemeyer as well. Junior that finished 9th at Champs and went 4:10/8:59 this past spring as a junior.

Source?

Meant to reply to this one. Source?

Strava bio

To be fair he’s from Idaho. Transferee to Utah last year. But as far as the commitment it a given consideration he’s a devout Mormon. Where else was he going to go lol.

If you follow recruiting for BYU, you’d know there are a decent number of devout Mormons who opt to go elsewhere. It isn’t a given. Across all sports U’d say it’s about 60% or so, though obviously higher for American Fork distance runners.

Didn’t he used to live in Utah before he moved to Idaho?

He has an older brother Joe Simmons who graduated from American Fork in 2016.

His own Instagram….

Who?

He got second place at NXN last year

Recap of every distance athlete’s that has committed to BYU in the past year (from what I found on milesplit)

(altitude marks marked with *, worth about 5 seconds for 1600, 11 seconds for 3200, and 20 seconds for 5000)

Spencer Bradshaw: 24 at Champs Nationals cross country, 14:33*, 8:57*, 4:13*

Carter Cutting: 1:48.98, 4:05 mile

Alexander Garcia-Silver: 8:58, 4:15 mile

Jaron Hartshorn: 8:52 2-mile, 4:08*, 1:54.41

Wyatt Haughton: 8:56, 4:05 mile, 1:51.42

(Per Earlier in the thread) Landon Heemeyer: 9 at Champs Nationals, 8:59, 4:10

Liam Heninger: 13:55 at Woodbridge, 8:44, 4:07*, 1:54.65

Tyler Sainsbury: 4:05 mile, 1:52.82

Daniel Simmons: NXN second place, 13:59, 8:34, 4:07*

Ryan Thomas: 4:07, 1:52.04

In total, that adds up to (including altitude conversions

3200: 7 sub-9, 4 sub-8:50, 1 sub-8:40

1600: 8 sub-4:10, 5 4:05 or under

And a 1:48 runner

Pretty good year, I’d say

Do you even follow the sport?

Best returning runner in the nation

2nd at NXN last year

Top 5 3200m Runner Ever