Montana
Montana Invitational
Dennehy leads Griz at Montana Invitational
10/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
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Results 
Redshirt senior Keli Dennehy moved up late in the race and finished third to lead the Griz cross country teams at the annual Montana Invitational Saturday morning at the UM Golf Course in Missoula.
The Montana women finished fourth out of seven teams at their home meet. The Griz men, who did not place any runners in the top 15, finished sixth in the six-team men's race.
Dennehy, who had a memorable cross country season as a true freshman in 2010, has been injured more often than not in the cross country seasons since, but she's back to mostly full health, and she put her talents on display Saturday.
After hanging back for the first two miles of the five-kilometer women's race, Dennehy moved up through the field and finished in a time of 17:40, 12 seconds behind winner Sarah Reiter of Eastern Washington and seven seconds behind runner-up Amelia Evans of Gonzaga.
"Keli ran very well strategically. She didn't get out super hard and was actually in sixth to eighth place early in the race, but at the most crucial moment of the race, when everyone else was fading in the last mile, she moved up from sixth to third in about 150 meters," said UM coach Collin Fehr.
"The way she ran was perfect from a tactical point of view."
The result gave Dennehy, who previously had a pair of fourth-place finishes at the race, her best career finish at the UM Invitational. She edged out Montana State's Caroline Hardin and Eastern Washington's Katie Mahoney, who rounded out the top five.
"I just wanted to be in it today. I wanted to be ready to compete and be in it with a chance. Maybe I didn't have a chance to win after a mile and a half, but I still felt like I was in it the whole time," said Dennehy.
"Knowing I can compete up at the front again this year makes it so much more fun. Running is something I love to do, so it's not fun when you're hurt."
Senior Heather Fraley, 12th in a time of 18:04, was the only other Griz to crack the top 20, which is why Montana finished a distant fourth behind Montana State, Eastern Washington and Gonzaga. Carroll was fifth, Santa Clara sixth and College of Idaho seventh.
Redshirt sophomore Lauryn Wate was 25th in a time of 18:38, freshman Christina Seas was 29th in 18:44, and senior Carly Wilczynski was 31st in 18:50. Montana raced without standout sophomore Reagan Colyer, who is injured.
"What I liked was that everyone was focused today. I was really impressed with the energy they had during the race. They were focused and in the moment, and that's something we've talked a lot about recently," said Fehr.
"Staying engaged and running your race and not getting too caught up with where you're at place-wise or what your splits are. Just running your race. I was pleased with that effort."
A common post-race lament of cross country coaches everywhere is that their teams went out too hard and paid for it in the end. The Montana men had the opposite problem. They actually went out too slowly Saturday.
"Holy cow the men got out slow. Surprisingly slow. We usually talk about getting out more on the conservative end instead of being too aggressive, but this morning they were way back there," said Fehr.
The team made up ground, but in the end only three attached runners were in the top 40. Freshman Nathan Wellington finished 19th in a time of 25:51 on the eight-kilometer course. Redshirt sophomore Adam Wollant was 22nd in 25:55, and senior Ben Williamson was 40th in 26:38.
"Because of the slow start, they had to make up ground early in the race, and I think some of them tried to make up that ground too quickly. They made up a lot of it in the second mile, then suffered through the third and fourth mile and didn't have much at the end," Fehr said.
"I think if they would have spread it out more throughout the race they would have been stronger at the finish."
The team's top finisher was actually sophomore Paden Alexander, who is redshirting this season. He ran a 25:46 to finish 17th.
Willie Milam, competing unattached for Gonzaga, won the race with a lean at the finish in a time of 24:27.56. He edged Cristian Soratos, who was running unattached for Montana State. Soratos, who had a time of 24:27.78, led for the first two-thirds of the race.
MSU's Jake Turner and Michael Asay finished third and fourth, but it was Eastern Washington which won the team title. Not factoring in the unattached runners in the field, the Eagles placed three in the top 10 and upset Montana State 51-53.
Gonzaga was third with 71 points, Carroll fourth with 96, College of Idaho fifth with 119 and the Griz sixth with 123.
Montana will compete in two weeks at the Inland Empire Challenge at Lewiston, Idaho.
Players Mentioned
