Big Sky championship races Saturday at Cedar City

Saturday, October 31

Cedar City, Utah

Montana

Big Sky Conference Championships

10/29/2015 12:51:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana Invitational Photo Gallery

The Montana cross country teams will compete at the Big Sky Conference championships Saturday morning at Cedar City, Utah. The races will be held at the Cedar Ridge Golf Course.

The women's five-kilometer race will start at 10 a.m., the men's eight-kilometer race at 11 a.m.

Women's Preview

The top 10 finishers from the 2014 championship, including Eastern Washington's Sarah Reiter, last year's overall winner at Grand Forks, N.D., are back for the 2015 race.

Joining that deep mix is Montana freshman Makena Morley, which should give Saturday's race even more competition for the top spot.

Reiter defeated Morley at NCAA Pre-Nationals two weeks ago at Louisville, Ky., finishing 15 seconds ahead of the Grizzly, but Morley was not at her best. She'd had little run training in the weeks leading up to the race because of a foot injury.

"It's still lingering, but since Pre-Nationals I think there have only been one or two days when Makena has had to cross-train," said UM coach Collin Fehr. "She has put some solid training in, and that naturally has brought her confidence level up, so she's ready. I like her chances."

Southern Utah's Ashley Hawks was second to Reiter last year, Sacramento State's Chloe Berlioux was third. Also joining the frontrunners will be Idaho's Kinsey Gomez, an Oregon State transfer who dominated the Montana Invitational on Oct. 3 in Morley's absence.

Montana has not produced an individual champion since Sabrina Monro went back-to-back in 1999 and 2000.

"Makena is in it to win it, but it's not a given. She is going to have to go out and earn it, and she knows that," said Fehr.

Also racing for Montana will be senior Heather Fraley, junior Lauryn Wate, sophomore Reagan Colyer and freshmen Jessica Bailey, Bridget Creel and Emily Pittis.

Colyer led the Grizzlies at the Montana Invitational. Pittis was the team's top runner two weeks ago at the Inland Empire Challenge in Lewiston, Idaho.

Montana has not placed an individual in the top 10 at the Big Sky meet the last four years. The Grizzlies' team finishes since winning the Big Sky championship in 2010: 5th, 10th, 6th, 8th.

"It's the same story as the men," said Fehr. "We work hard all fall, then we go to conference and finish mid- to low-pack, and we're getting tired of that.

"They're realizing that it's not going to happen automatically. They have to go and give it everything they've got, and really commit to the idea that every spot counts. And we have to be competitive and aggressive, which might mean doing something a little different than their personalities dictate."

Of the last 19 Big Sky women's championships, Northern Arizona and Weber State have won all but the 2010 race that Montana claimed. Those two teams, plus Eastern Washington, will be the favorites on Saturday.

Weber State, which holds a No. 27 national ranking, is No. 5 in the Mountain Region, Northern Arizona is No. 6. Eastern Washington is No. 6 in the West Region.

Other ranked teams in the Mountain Region are No. 11 Montana State, No. 12 Montana and No. 15 Idaho State.

Men's Preview

Montana will travel with just five athletes for the men's race: junior Adam Wollant, sophomores Paden Alexander and Nathan Wellington, and freshmen Jonathan Eastwood and Gavin Hasty.

It's a group that will attempt to change the Grizzlies' fortunes at the Big Sky championship the last two decades, which can best be described as good but never great. Fourteen of the last 20 years the team has finished between fourth and sixth, with a pair of third-place finishes thrown in.

And even that has slipped the last two falls. Montana placed ninth two years ago, seventh last year.

"Their mindset is that they are tired of being mediocre," said Fehr. "They want to beat some people and prove they can move up to the upper half of the conference. They know they are going to have to go out and earn it if they want to place higher, and that's their mindset going in.

"They plan on being very competitive. They want to beat people. What's nice about that is that it is so simple. There is nothing complicated about it, and it's kind of refreshing. We've talked about it in the past, but they've really glommed on to the idea this time around."

Northern Arizona has won the last eight team titles and has won 22 championships since 1986. Outside of NAU, only Weber State and Montana State have gone home with the trophy since Montana won in 1985.

Despite their dominance, the Lumberjacks enter this year's race as a slight underdog to Southern Utah, which is ranked sixth in the Mountain Region to Northern Arizona's eighth. Weber State is ranked 12th, Montana State 13th.

Only two of the top 10 individual finishers from last year's race will be toeing the line Saturday. Northern Arizona won last year's title with 24 points. Southern Utah, with 66, edged Weber State, which had 67, for second.

Montana's top finisher in 2014 did not crack the top 35.

"It's mostly a perception thing. Usually they get to conference and think, Okay, we've trained, we've done all the work, we should be peaking, so this should feel good," said Fehr. "But it shouldn't feel good. It should hurt to go max effort.

"We're going to make it hurt on purpose, and we're going to accept that, rather than going in with the expectation that we're peaking and won't have to work hard for it."

Hasty or Wellington has been Montana's top finisher at the Grizzlies' first three races. Hasty was first at the Montana State Invitational and Inland Empire Challenge, Wellington was first at the Montana Invitational.