Drennen, Reynolds post runner-up finishes
9/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
Montana junior Katrina Drennen and sophomore Lynn Reynolds both had runner-up finishes to lead the Grizzlies at Saturday???s Montana State Invitational cross country meet in Bozeman, Mont. Drennen finished nine seconds back of women???s winner Mary Nothum of Utah Valley, while Reynolds came in one second back of men???s winner Patrick Casey of Montana State.
The Montana women placed third behind Weber State and Utah Valley. The UM men were fourth behind Utah State, Montana State and Weber State.
Drennen ran the three-mile women???s course in 17:19, finishing behind Nothum???s 17:10, but beating out Weber State sophomore Natalie Haws, who was third in 17:23, and WSU freshman Sarah Callister, who placed fourth in 17:24.
Drennen and Haws were the only non-Northern Arizona runners in the top five at last November???s Big Sky Conference championship, with Drennen taking third and Haws fifth. Haws would defeat Drennen at the NCAA Mountain Regional two weeks later and earn an individual spot to the NCAA championship.
Nothum and Drennen were in a two-athlete break a mile and a half into the race Saturday when Drennen slipped and fell, giving up 20 meters to Nothum. Drennen would not be able to bridge the gap over the final half of the race but managed to hold on to second.
?????It was unfortunate, because Katrina looked really strong at that point,??? UM coach Courtney Babcock said. ???I think she probably could have stayed at the front the rest of the way.???
Sophomore Kesslee Payne, who redshirted in 2008, was sixth in a time of 17:30. Junior Brooke Andrus, who was also running her first cross country meet since 2007, finished just outside of the top 10 in 11th place with a time of 17:55.
Junior Bridgette Hoenke and senior Kim Tritz rounded out Montana???s top five. Hoenke was 18th in a time of 18:10. Tritz was 27th in a time of 18:28.
Also competing for the Grizzlies were sophomore Mary Kettering (41st, 19:05), senior Shannon Woodman (63rd, 19:41) and senior Leigh Fredrickson (105th, 21:15).
???Kesslee had a great race considering it was her first in two years,??? Babcock added.
???All in all there is some room for improvement, and that???s actually a good thing. We didn???t want this to be our best race of the season.???
In addition to Haws??? and Callister???s third- and fourth-place finishes, Weber State also took seventh with Laken Skidmore and ninth with Taylor Thornley to win the team title with 36 points.
Utah Valley, in addition to Nothum???s victory, had six in the top 20 to place second with 50 points.
Montana was third with 64 points.
The Grizzlies were followed by Utah State with 94 points and Montana State with 146 points.
A total of 13 women???s teams competed.
In the men???s race, Casey, Reynolds and Montana State???s Matt Atkinson-Adams broke out early and made it a three-man race until Casey and Reynolds dropped Atkinson-Adams with a mile to go.
Casey, one of the Big Sky Conference???s top 800-meter runners, and Reynolds continued running together until a burst of speed by Casey with 15 meters to go gave him the win.
???Lynn was looking relaxed the whole way and had a great race,??? Babcock said. ???He didn???t have that last gear, but being able to kick with Pat Casey, who has that 800-meter runner???s speed, is really going to be good for Lynn???s confidence.???
Casey, from Laurel High, and Reynolds, from Beaverhead County High, have a rivalry that goes back to their Class A days when Reynolds won the 2006 state cross country title by 13 seconds over Casey, and needed a state-record time to do it. The two runners finished over 40 seconds clear of the rest of the field in that race.
???They have a history that goes back to high school. That made for a great battle today. It was a lot of fun to watch,??? Babcock said.
Casey, a sophomore, edged Reynolds by a second over the five-mile course, 24:54 to 24:55.
Atkinson-Adams came in at 25:07.
Seniors Mac Bloom and Michael Fisher and freshman Quinton Decker all placed in the top 20 for Montana. Bloom was 13th in 25:44, Fisher was 17th in 25:51 and Decker was 20th in 26:02.
Junior Collin Fehr, competing in his first cross country race since high school, was UM???s No. 5 runner, placing 24th in 26:13.
Also competing for Montana were sophomore Robbie Brooks (29th, 26:29), freshman Max Hardy (44th, 27:02), redshirt freshman Cody Lund (59th, 27:58), sophomore Colin O???Neill (62nd, 28:04), redshirt freshman Casey Weinman (77th, 28:50).
Even without a runner in the top three, Utah State had a dominating performance. The Aggies had five runners in the top 12 and seven in the top 19 to score 42 points.
Montana State, with three in the top 10, was second with 53 points.
Weber State, on the strength of fifth-, seventh- and eighth-place finishes, narrowly defeated Montana, scoring 70 points to the Grizzlies??? 76.
Utah Valley rounded out the top five with 104 points.
A dozen men???s teams competed.
Montana will compete at home in two weeks, Saturday, Oct. 3, with the Montana Invitational at the UM Golf Course.
