Montana
Inland Empire Challenge
Griz enjoy long-awaited breakout race
10/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
Results
Keli Dennehy led Montana to an upset victory in the women's race, Mark Messmer broke 25 minutes for the first time in the men's race, and the Griz cross country teams had the breakout performances their coach has long been waiting for Saturday at the Inland Empire Challenge at Lewiston, Idaho.
"There were PRs all over the place today and just some impressive performances by both the men and women," said Collin Fehr. "This was probably the most fun we've had on a cross country course since I can't remember when.
"We've known they had this in them. It's just taken this long to get it out of them to where they all brought it on the same day."
The Montana women placed their first five among the top 14 Division I finishers and knocked off Idaho, Gonzaga and Washington State, plus Eastern Washington. The Grizzlies lost to Gonzaga by 26 points two weeks ago at the Montana Invitational in Missoula.
"The women just ran strong today, and that's something we haven't seen this year. We haven't seen them that focused, and that allowed them to all perform well on the same day," said Fehr.
Dennehy, who covered the five-kilometer course in a time of 17:11, finished fourth among Division I runners, ninth overall in a race that had a number of strong unattached athletes competing. The top five all broke 17 minutes.
"Keli was on fire," Fehr said. "It was kind of hard to gauge early on because there were some unattached runners who were just smoking the course, but Keli had a phenomenal race."
And her teammates joined her. Heather Fraley ran a 17:37, Christina Seas a 17:40, Lauryn Wate a 17:48 and Carly Wilczynski an 18:05 to round out Montana's top five. The times were collegiate PRs for Fraley and Wate at the five-kilometer distance.
Messmer took 24 seconds off his previous PR at the eight-kilometer men's distance to finish ninth among Division I runners. He finished 19th overall.
Nathan Wellington (25:01), Adam Wollant (25:17) and Ben Williamson (25:25) all went sub-25:30, but without a solid No. 5, the Grizzlies finished third in the Division I standings behind Idaho and Gonzaga.
"The men's race was crazy fast, and through the first mile, then the second mile, they were staying on," said Fehr. "The guys were focused and ready to run fast today. They took care of business, and it was a joy to watch."
Both races were a boost for a program needing one before the Big Sky Conference championships, which will be held in two weeks at Grand Forks, N.D.
"We finally have some momentum going into our next meet, and the team hasn't really had that since I've been here," said Fehr.
"This was something substantial that we can build off of. The Big Sky championships should be a chance for us to surpass our performances we had today, as long as we continue to move forward."
Players Mentioned
