Intrasquad meet kicks off 2014 cross country season
9/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
The Montana cross country teams will open their fall season with an intrasquad meet Saturday morning at Playfair Park in Missoula. The women's five-kilometer race will start at 9:30 a.m., the men's five-kilometer race at 10 a.m.
The teams' first race will be the Montana State Invitational, on Saturday, Sept. 20, in Bozeman. The Grizzlies will host the Montana Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 4, at the UM Golf Course, then travel to Lewiston, Idaho, for the Inland Empire Challenge on Saturday, Oct. 18.
The Big Sky Conference championships will be hosted by North Dakota in Grand Forks on Nov. 1. The NCAA Mountain Regional on Nov. 14 will be held at Albuquerque, N.M.
The UM men finished ninth at last fall's Big Sky championships and were picked eighth in this year's preseason coaches' poll. The women finished sixth and were picked for the same spot.
Both teams have six of the seven athletes who competed at last year's championships back this fall. The men brought in a pair of freshmen, the women have four newcomers.
"It's exciting to finally see your freshmen and see what you brought in. Where are these guys going to fit in, not just athletically, but what are they going to bring to the team?" said third-year coach Vicky Pounds, who, with co-coach Collin Fehr, took the teams to a training camp near Haugan in late August.
"We had a great time at camp. This is going to be a very positive, close-knit group, with a lot of personality and energy."
The men's team returns seven athletes who competed last year, and the Grizzlies add redshirt junior David Norris, who studied abroad last fall, and a pair of freshmen in Nathan Wellington and Dawit Mengistu.
Mengistu, all of 16 years of age, will redshirt this year, but early indicators are that Wellington, of Rocklin, Calif., is going to help the team in his first season.
"Nathan is just a talent. I definitely think he'll be a scorer for us as a freshman," said Pounds. "Dawit has talent, and we'll see that down the road. He's very mature, even as a 16 year old. He's sees that there is a bigger picture out there than just what happens this fall."
Senior Ben Williamson never cracked Montana's top three last year in his first season racing for the Grizzlies, but Pounds is expecting him to be one of the breakout performers that helps Montana challenge for at least a top-five finish at the conference meet.
Williamson, of Loveland, Colo., spent his first two years of college going to school at Colorado, but he didn't run with the Buffaloes.
After getting his feet wet during the 2013 cross country season, Williamson finished fourth in the 800 meters at the Big Sky indoor championships and sixth in the 800 and eighth in the 1,500 meters at the outdoor meet.
"I just know we're going to see great things from Ben this year," said Pounds. "He had been out of the game for a couple of years and hadn't run a ton when he joined us last fall.
"His fitness is so much better now, and he's confident after the indoor and outdoor track seasons he had. And he's so mentally strong. He's going to impress some people."
Redshirt sophomore Adam Wollant, top two for Montana at all six races last fall, is back, as is redshirt junior Mark Messmer, who was top three at five of six races in 2013.
Sophomore Paden Alexander led Montana last fall at the Santa Clara Invitational and at the 10-kilometer NCAA Mountain Regional.
Also back are junior Reid Longley, redshirt sophomore Cody Curtis and sophomore Micah Drew.
Pounds has only seen her team and nobody else's, but with Williamson's impending breakout, Norris's return, Wellington's addition and everyone else with one more year of experience, it has Pounds stating, "The coaches who voted us eighth are missing out."
The women's team brought in four freshmen, but the Grizzlies are also experienced at the top with redshirt senior Keli Dennehy and seniors Heather Fraley, Allie Parks and Carly Wilczynski.
Montana also returns sophomore Reagan Colyer, the 2014 Big Sky indoor champion in the 800 meters, and redshirt sophomore Lauryn Wate.
The key for Dennehy, as it's always been, is her health. When she is at 100 percent, she is capable of running with anybody in the conference (see her fourth-place overall finish at the Big Sky championships as a true freshman). Same with Wilczynski.
To guard against injury and to build the roster for the future, Pounds and Fehr brought in freshmen Jessica Baily, of Rapid City, S.D.; Emily Cheroske, of Bigfork, Mont.; Megan Franz, of Tigard, Ore.; and Christina Seas, of Coldwater, Ohio.
Franz, a former soccer player who lacks any cross country experience, will redshirt this fall. Seas on the other hand should help immediately and could be a star down the road.
"Christina is like a baby deer right now: all limbs," said Pounds. "But she is already up front in our workouts. Once we get some strength in her, there is so much potential there. I can see her doing something great years from now."
Dennehy and Wilczynski finished first and second for Montana -- and overall -- at the Carroll Early Bird Open last September, but both dealt with injuries the rest of the fall.
Into their absence stepped Colyer, who led the Grizzlies at four of their final five races and was never outside the top three.
If the women's team has the equivalent of Williamson, it's Fraley. She, too, joined the team last fall as a walk-on and was a solid contributor, finishing has high as third on the squad at the Montana State Invitational.
Her breakout, like Williamson's, came during the track season, particularly last outdoor when she started lopping large chunks off her times in the 1,500 meters.
"With the way she ended her track season, Heather is coming in with a lot more confidence to this cross country season than she had last year," said Pounds, who thinks her women could be top three in the Big Sky by the time Nov. 1 rolls around.
"Last year she walked on and wasn't really sure if she deserved to be here. She's established that now."
Players Mentioned
