Griz heading east for NCAA Pre-Nationals
10/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
The University of Montana cross country teams will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., later this week for the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet. The series of races, which will be held on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course Saturday morning and afternoon, are run on the same course that hosts November???s NCAA championships.
The races: The Montana women will compete in the six-kilometer White race, which starts at 9:35 a.m. (MT). The UM men will compete in the eight-kilometer Blue race, which starts at 10:10 a.m. (MT).
The meet also features the women???s Blue race at 9 a.m. (MT), the men???s White race at 10:50 a.m. (MT), the women???s open race at 11:30 a.m. (MT) and the men???s open race at 12:05 p.m. (MT).
Who???ll be there: The meet will feature over 1,600 runners competing in the six races, with 18 of the nation???s top 30 women???s teams registered and 18 of the top 30 men???s teams.
Racing for the Montana women???s team will be seniors Brooke Andrus, Kara DeWalt and Katrina Drennen, juniors Mary Kettering and Kesslee Payne and freshmen Keli Dennehy and Annie Moore.
The UM men will be represented by seniors Sean Clark and Collin Fehr, junior Lynn Reynolds and sophomores Max Hardy and Cody Lund.
Live coverage: Saturday???s races will be shown live, free of charge, on FloTrack.org. The coverage will include multiple cameras and live commentary.
The rest of the Grizzlies: Senior Bridgette Hoenke, juniors Brian Burke and Will Rial, sophomores Aleta Jokisch and Casey Weinman and redshirt freshman Chase Anderson will travel to Cheney, Wash., Saturday morning for the Inland Northwest Challenge.
The women???s five-kilometer race starts at 11 a.m. (MT), the men???s eight-kilometer race starts at 11:45 a.m. (MT).
Upcoming: Saturday???s race will be Montana???s final competition before the Big Sky Conference championships, which will be held Saturday, Oct. 30, in Spokane, Wash.
Women???s preview
The Grizzlies will be racing Saturday with arguably their strongest team ever to compete at NCAA Pre-Nationals, and most of the athletes are very familiar with the Gibson course.
Drennen has competed on the course three times, including twice last year at Pre-Nationals and again and the NCAA championship.
Andrus and DeWalt have been on the course for three previous Pre-Nationals, Payne twice.
The race against some of the nation???s best teams and individuals comes after Montana competed at the Montana State Invitational on Sept. 18 and the Montana Invitational on Oct. 2.
Both had Montana winning the team championships and taking home the overall individual titles ??? DeWalt at MSU, Drennen at UM.
???The reason to compete at NCAA Pre-Nationals is kind of twofold for the women,??? UM cross country coach Courtney Babcock said. ???One is to race on the course that is our team goal for the end of the season and to get into that type of competitive environment.
???It???s one thing to run close to home and be in the top group with 10 or 20 other people. It???s a whole other thing to be in a race where there are 200 people at the same level as you.???
Montana will compete at the NCAA Mountain Regional on Nov. 13. With Texas Tech (ranked No. 4 nationally), New Mexico (No. 8) and Colorado (No. 9) in the same region, and with only the top two teams getting automatic qualifying spots to the national meet, the Grizzlies will most likely only advance to the NCAA championships as an at-large selection.
Beating teams head-to-head Saturday brings Babcock to her second reason for wanting to travel to Terre Haute.
???In addition to the experience, we???re also trying to get points should we not be in the top two at regionals,??? she said. ???If you???re not one of the automatic qualifiers, points against other teams is what they rely on to determine the at-large bids.
???The more points we can accumulate during the year, the better chance we have of going to nationals.???
Montana, which is currently ranked No. 6 in the Mountain Region behind Texas Tech, Colorado, New Mexico, BYU and Colorado State, had an unlucky draw with the White race. BYU and Colorado State, which rank just in front of Montana in the region, are racing in the Blue race, as is No. 7 Weber State.
Colorado and No. 8 New Mexico State will be joining the Grizzlies in the White race.
Northern Arizona, which along with Montana and Weber State is one of the tri-favorites to win the Big Sky meet on Oct. 30, is competing in the open race.
Drennen led Montana at Pre-Nationals last fall, finishing 63rd overall in the White race. Payne was second (108th), Andrus third (144th) and a less-than-100-percent DeWalt fourth (169th).
Drennen would return to the course in November for the NCAA championships. She placed 174th at the national meet.
???Having Katrina go to nationals last year was a big step for her and for the team,??? Babcock said. ???She experienced what was possible, and now her teammates that are running right with her can see that they shouldn???t be satisfied with just going to regionals.
???With our freshmen coming in and running with our top girls, I think there is a lot more expectation as to what they can do. They are not just going to Terre Haute to be a part of the race.???
One factor in Saturday???s race will be running six kilometers after opening the season with a pair of five-kilometer races at Bozeman and Missoula.
The Big Sky Conference meet uses a five-kilometer course for the women. NCAA regionals are back to six kilometers, as is the national meet.
???The women will be running six kilometers for the first time, which is a great precursor for our post-conference races,??? Babcock said. ???It is not that much longer than our five-kilometer races, but mentally I think it???s good to get a race of that distance under your belt before regionals so everyone feels strong at that distance.???
Men???s preview
The men???s team through two races has been Lynn Reynolds ... and everybody else (though injuries have played a role).
Reynolds was third overall at Montana State and runner-up at the Montana Invitational. The Grizzlies??? second-place runner has been more than two minutes behind Reynolds at both races.
Reynolds, who is a legitimate threat to make a return appearance to Terre Haute in November for the NCAA championship, ran on the Gibson course for the first time last fall. He placed 123rd overall in the men???s Blue race.
Reynolds and then-senior Michael Fisher were the only two Griz men to make the trip in 2009.
???If getting to nationals is something Lynn puts his mind on, then that is absolutely realistic for him,??? Babcock said. ???Saturday???s race will be a great chance for him to prove to himself that he is ready to compete at this level.???
Clark, Fehr, Hardy and Lund will all be making their first trip to Terre Haute.
???The rest of the guys are still working towards getting to where they need to be,??? Babcock added, ???but I think it???s important to get to these big meets and see what else is out there and to hopefully use the race environment to step our performance up.???
