Griz hosting Montana Open Friday morning
10/3/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
Oct. 3, 2013
The Montana cross country teams will race at home for the only time this season when the Grizzlies host the Montana Open Friday morning at the UM Golf Course. The women's six-kilometer race starts at 10:30 a.m., the men's eight-kilometer race begins at 11:15 a.m.
There are more than 65 athletes in each race, though Montana and Montana State will be the only two Division I programs competing. The Grizzlies and Bobcats will be joined by runners from Central Washington, MSU Billings, Carroll and Rocky Mountain.
A number of unattached runners will also be competing in each race.
Women's Preview
Montana State is ranked 10th in this week's USTFCCCA Mountain Region poll and had an excellent start to its season at the MSU Open two weeks ago at Bozeman.
Heather Demorest won the race by seven seconds over Utah's Rebekah Winterton, and Rachel Atwood, in seventh, and Christie Schiel, in 11th, put three Bobcats across the finish line before freshman Reagan Colyer finished in 12th as the Grizzlies' top runner.
MSU's solid race allowed the Bobcats, who had an average finishing time of 17:54 over the three-mile course, to knock off Utah and come in second behind Utah State. Montana, which had junior Carly Wilczynski in 16th and Heather Fraley in 19th, finished fourth with an average time of 18:14.
That makes the Grizzlies, who are ranked 12th in the region, slight underdogs Friday on their home course.
"From what I understand, Montana State often opens strong and then starts to fade a bit toward the end of the season, but I don't want to count on that being the case this year," said UM cross country coach Vicky Pounds.
"I'm counting on our team to continue to progress, which they have so far all season."
For the second straight race Montana will be without its top runner in redshirt junior Keli Dennehy, who won the women's four-kilometer race at the Carroll Early Bird meet on Sept. 6 and is now nursing a minor calf injury.
"Keli won't be racing, but she is back running," Pounds said. "I want her to get in some harder workouts before throwing her into another race.
"We're looking at the big picture with her and where we want her to be. We want her to be able to contribute at conference."
Montana may or may not have Wilczynski, who is battling a cold. If she doesn't race, that will leave the Grizzlies with just five runners: Colyer, Fraley, junior Allie Parks and redshirt freshmen Sarah Hastings and Lauryn Wate.
"We're hoping Carly is able to race, and if she does she certainly won't be 100 percent, but I see other athletes stepping up," said Pounds. "We had a great week of workouts."
Men's Preview
While the women's race could be a tight contest, the Montana State men, who are ranked ninth in the region, are heavy favorites in the men's race.
The Bobcats had four runners in the top six overall at their home meet two weeks ago and used that top-end strength to upset by three points Utah State, which placed its top five in the top 11 overall.
Redshirt sophomore Mark Messmer came in 15th overall as the Grizzlies' top finisher. He was the only Griz runner in the top 25. Redshirt freshman Adam Wollant came in 26th, and freshman Paden Alexander finished 29th.
Montana State's average finishing time on the five-mile course was 25:32. Montana's was 26:42.
"We're not going to not race them," Pounds said, "but we're also being realistic. Our goal is to be closer to them this week, and as the season progresses toward conference, we're going to try to be ahead of them.
"We've worked on some race strategy this week, and we're hoping to execute that and have some solid performances."
Montana's top six at the MSU Open on Sept. 21 were all underclassmen. Coming in behind Messmer, Wollant and Alexander were sophomore Matt Barker in 35th, redshirt freshman Cody Curtis in 39th and freshman Micah Drew in 45th.
All nine Montana athletes on the men's cross country roster are expected to race Friday.
Upcoming: Montana will compete at the Santa Clara Invitational in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 19.
Players Mentioned
