Montana
Montana State Invitational
Dennehy leads Griz to fourth-place finish
9/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
Led by redshirt senior Keli Dennehy's fifth-place finish, the Montana women's cross country team placed fourth Saturday morning at the Montana State Invitational, held at the Bridger Creek Golf Course in Bozeman.
Sophomore Reagan Colyer was 15th, and senior Heather Fraley also cracked the top 25 to help the Grizzlies, who are ranked No. 14 in the Mountain Region, knock off No. 11 Utah State and finish 14 points behind No. 8 Montana State.
No. 9 Wyoming, with three of the top four finishers, won the women's race, upsetting No. 3 Utah by two points. Dennehy was the only non-Wyoming or Utah runner in the top eight.
Redshirt sophomore Lauryn Wate finished 31st and senior Carly Wilczynski was 41st to round out Montana's top five.
Utah's Sarah Feeny won the women's three-mile race in a time of 16:56. Wyoming's Holly Page (17:08), Kerry White (17:19) and Audra DeStefano (17:23) followed, with Dennehy, in 17:24, rounding out the top five.
In the men's five-mile race, Montana, which is unranked, finished fourth out of the four Division I programs competing. The other three teams are ranked in the top 12 in the region.
No. 8 Wyoming won the race with 32 points. No. 12 Montana State, with 47 points, was second, No. 11 Utah State, with 50, was third.
Montana had a tight 28-second gap between its top four runners, but none of them cracked the top 20.
Redshirt junior Mark Messmer finished 22nd in a time of 26:28, freshman Nathan Wellington was 23rd in 26:37, redshirt sophomore Adam Wollant was 27th in 26:49 and senior Ben Williamson finished 31st in 26:56.
Wyoming's Amos Bowen covered the course in a winning time of 25:01.
"The women were the superstars today. They ran great," said UM co-coach Collin Fehr. "The men had a great spread, which is what we wanted, but they were not quite as fast as they're going to be later in the season.
"It was a good start. We're pleased with it overall."
The Grizzlies will compete next at the Montana Invitational, which will be held at the UM Golf Course on Saturday, Oct. 4.
Players Mentioned
