Wellington, Colyer lead Griz at intrasquad meet
9/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
A pair of underclassmen led the Montana cross country teams at their preseason intrasquad meet Saturday morning at Playfair Park in Missoula.
Freshman Nathan Wellington pulled away late from redshirt junior Mark Messmer to win the men's five-kilometer race in a time of 15:30.
Sophomore Reagan Colyer led from start to finish and won the women's five-kilometer race in a time of 18:06.
Messmer came in three seconds behind Wellington, in a time of 15:33. Redshirt sophomore Adam Wollant ran a 15:41, senior Ben Williamson a 15:43 and sophomore Micah Drew a 15:52 to give Montana a 22-second split within its top five runners.
"It was better than expected with the men. One of their goals at camp was to have a really tight spread, and they went out and did it, so that was exciting," said coach Collin Fehr.
"We thought our top guys would run around 15:40 or so, and then we ended up having our top five guys all under 16 minutes, which we were pumped about.
"It's such an improvement from this point last year. Their starting point is so much better than it was a year ago, and there is still a lot of room to grow."
Wellington is out of Rocklin, Calif. He is one of two true freshmen on this year's team, along with Dawit Mengistu of Tumwater, Wash. Mengisut ran a 16:59.
"(What Nathan did) wasn't really a surprise based on what he's been doing in practice and what we knew he was capable of coming in," said Fehr.
"Mark pretty much led from start to finish and did a lot of the work pushing the pace. Nathan hung in there and had a nice little kick at the finish to get the win."
The women's team had more than a minute gap between its No. 1 runner, Colyer, and No. 5, redshirt sophomore Lauryn Wate, who finished in 19:12.
But the Grizzlies did have smaller groupings within the race. Senior Heather Fraley came in shortly after Colyer, in 18:17, senior Carly Wilczynski (18:54) and freshman Christina Seas (18:59) were third and fourth, and Wate and senior Allie Parks (19:19) were fifth and sixth.
"The women just aren't quite as deep as the men. Even though they were spread out, they still latched on to one another. It wasn't a pack, but they used each other really well," said Fehr.
Colyer led the Grizzlies at four of their final five races last fall, so her run-away-and-hide performance was expected.
For Fraley to finish just 11 seconds behind Colyer and 37 seconds ahead of the rest of her teammates was a pleasant surprise, though not totally unexpected given the improvements she made during last spring's outdoor track season.
"Reagan did what we expected, which was to take off from the gun and set the pace. It was up to everyone else to chase her down. Heather came on strong. She is coming off the track season with a lot of confidence," said Fehr.
"The rest of the times weren't as fast as we were thinking they would be, but they weren't bad either. It's a good starting point."
Redshirt senior Keli Dennehy did not race because of injury.
Montana will open its season on Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Montana State Invitational.
Men's Results
Nathan Wellington -- 15:30
Mark Messmer -- 15:33
Adam Wollant -- 15:41
Ben Williamson -- 15:43
Micah Drew -- 15:52
David Norris -- 16:06
Paden Alexander -- 16:15
Cody Curtis -- 16:32
Reid Longley -- 16:58
Dawit Mengistu -- 16:59
Joe Lesar -- 18:21
Michael Managhan -- 18:48
Women's Results
Reagan Colyer -- 18:06
Heather Fraley -- 18:17
Carly Wilczynski -- 18:54
Christina Seas -- 18:59
Lauryn Wate -- 19:12
Allie Parks -- 19:19
Emily Cheroske -- 19:58
Autumn Taniguchi -- 20:35
Jessica Bailey -- 20:39
Megan Franz -- 20:55
Players Mentioned
