Montana
NCAA Mountain Region Championships
Griz conclude cross country season at regional
11/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
Results
The Montana cross country teams wrapped up their 2014 season Friday afternoon at the NCAA Mountain Regional at Albuquerque, N.M.
Redshirt senior Keli Dennehy ended her cross country career with a 68th-place finish to lead the Griz women, who placed 19th out of 20 teams. The UM men were 16th out of 17 teams. Freshman Nathan Wellington finished 76th.
Colorado, with five runners in the top 13, won the men's race. The Buffaloes also won the women's race, again placing five runners in the top 13.
"We thought the conference meet was a step up in competition, then you show up here and it's a higher level than that," said UM coach Collin Fehr.
"It's such a competitive region, the best in the nation, and we're not at that level, so there are a lot of emotions for both teams right now, both positive and negative. There are some frustrations and there is some contentment.
"In either case, the goal is for everyone to take something from this that they can use going into the track season and then into future cross country seasons."
Running the 10-kilometer distance for the first time this season, none of the Montana men were able to crack the top 75.
Wellington ran a 32:21 in his first collegiate 10k race to pace Montana for the second time this fall.
"Nate had a solid showing," Fehr said. "He really responded in the moment within the race. He had some great surges and raced really well."
Redshirt junior Mark Messmer was 87th in 32:47, senior Ben Williamson 95th (33:29), redshirt sophomore Adam Wollant 98th (33:49) and redshirt junior David Norris 104th (34:35).
Colorado was followed by Northern Arizona in the team standings. Both schools are ranked in the top 10 nationally. Rounding out the top five were BYU, Southern Utah and Colorado State.
UTEP junior Anthony Rotich won the race in a time of 29:38.
In the women's race, Dennehy was the team's top finisher for the fifth time in five races this fall, clocking a 22:45. Redshirt sophomore Lauryn Wate was 92nd in 23:09, freshman Christina Seas 94th (23:12), senior Heather Fraley 114th (23:41) and Carly Wilczynski 117th (23:52).
Rounding out the top five behind Colorado in the team standings were New Mexico, BYU, Northern Arizona and Wyoming. New Mexico freshman Alice Wright won the six-kilometer race in a time of 20:51.
Montana will now turn its sights to the indoor track season. The team's distance runners won't compete for the first time until Jan. 16 at Montana State.
"We can use all the emotions everyone is feeling, whether good or bad, as a springboard into this time off before indoor," said Fehr. "Everyone can kind of reassess, reevaluate and regroup so we can learn and improve from it."
Players Mentioned
