Drennen honored, Griz move up to No. 5
10/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
University of Montana senior Katrina Drennen has been named the Big Sky Conference co-Athlete of the Week the league office announced Wednesday. It is the first career Big Sky cross country athlete of the week award for Drennen, who is a four-time indoor and outdoor track and field athlete of the week.
Drennen shared the weekly award with Weber State???s Sarah Callister.
In other cross country news, following a strong showing at last Saturday???s NCAA Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Ind., the Griz women???s team moved up from No. 6 to No. 5 in Monday???s USTFCCCA Mountain Region poll.
Drennen and Callister, two of the handful of favorites to win the Big Sky Conference individual championship on Oct. 30, both raced in Terre Haute Saturday, though Drennen competed in the White race following Callister???s Blue race.
Callister ran a 21:21 over the six-kilometer course to finish 57th and lead the Wildcats to a 21st-place team showing.
Drennen ran a career-best 21:16 to finish 45th in her race.
Freshman Keli Dennehy, who could also challenge for the Big Sky title, finished 48th in the White race, matching Callister???s time of 21:21 to help Montana to a 12th-place team finish.
Montana and Weber State are expected to be in tight competition for the Big Sky title on Oct. 30 in Spokane, Wash.
At Saturday???s race, Montana???s top five runners finished with an average time of 21:39. Weber State???s top five athletes averaged 21:46.
Montana???s top five all finished within a 45-second window of Drennen???s time. Senior Brooke Andrus was 90th in 21:46, senior Kara DeWalt was 100th in 21:50, and junior Kesslee Payne was 122nd in a career-best 22:00.
???I think it???s great for the team to see what Katrina is able to accomplish in races because they know they are running right with her every day in practice,??? UM cross country coach Courtney Babcock said.
???In the past she has always been a little ahead in practices, but this year, if anything, she???s been a bit behind. She???s learned that every practice doesn???t have to be a race, because she has the confidence to know she is going to be there on race day.???
Montana entered Pre-Nationals ranked No. 6 in the Mountain Region but moved up to No. 5 after having a better showing Saturday than previous No. 5 Colorado State. The Rams had a top-five average of 21:42 to finish 18th in the Blue race.
The top three teams in the region, Texas Tech, Colorado and New Mexico, continue to be ranked among the top 10 nationally. Texas Tech, which received a first-place vote in this week???s national poll, is No. 4, Colorado is No. 7 and New Mexico is No. 10.
BYU, which is ranked No. 4 in the Mountain Region, is the first team sitting outside of the top 30 in the national poll. The Cougars finished 11th in Saturday???s Blue race with an average time of 21:23 for their top five runners.
Colorado State trails Montana in the No. 6 spot in this week???s region poll. Weber State is No. 7.
The Big Sky Conference championships on Oct. 30 will be followed by the NCAA Mountain Region meet, which will be held Saturday, Nov. 13, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The region is expected to send four and possibly five teams to the NCAA championships on Nov. 22.
???We had a narrow victory over Colorado State Saturday and we were not that far behind BYU, so it should be a really good race at regionals,??? Babcock said. ???It???s going to allow us to go to regionals knowing we have a legitimate shot at making it to nationals.
???This is what we???ve been working toward all year. We???ve proved it so far, and now people are starting to pay attention to what we???re doing.
???Now we just need to get the job done on race day.???
