Griz to get early start to fall season

Thursday, September 1

Moscow, Idaho

Montana

Clash of the Inland Northwest

8/30/2016 6:26:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana cross country teams will get an early jump on their seasons this week -- and get a preview of the Big Sky Conference championship course -- when the Grizzlies compete at the Clash of the Inland Northwest Invitational Thursday evening at Moscow, Idaho.

The meet will be held on the University of Idaho Golf Course, with the women's four-kilometer race starting at 7 p.m. (MT), the men's six-kilometer race at 7:30 p.m. (MT).

The race is the first of four for Montana that built up to a return trip to Moscow for the Big Sky championships on Friday, Oct. 28.

"I like that it's a shorter distance to kind of ease into the season. It will be good to see where our starting point is," said Vicky Pounds, who now coaches the cross country teams. She assisted with the cross country teams in the past while coaching the track program's sprinters and middle-distance runners.

"It's exciting. I'm coming back to the same school and to the same job in a sense, but it feels new to me. It's going to be my vision, my voice being heard. Distance running is my passion, and it finally feels like it's my turn."

Thursday's meet will feature runners from Idaho, Washington State, Lewis-Clark State, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Whitman and Whitworth, plus Montana, which was picked seventh (women) and eighth (men) in the Big Sky preseason coaches' poll that was released Tuesday.

"What's important is that the kids understand that this is just the start and that they shouldn't get panicked if they're not where they think they should be. At this point it's about getting the work in. What really matters is where we are two months from now," said Pounds.

Competing for Montana in the women's race will be seniors Madison Nagle and Lauryn Wate, junior Reagan Colyer and sophomores Jessica Bailey, Bridget Creel, Megan Franz and Emily Pittis.

Behind Big Sky champion Makena Morley, who is now racing at Colorado, the Grizzlies finished seventh at last year's conference meet. Pittis, Bailey, Colyer, Wate and Creel all raced, giving this year's team a veteran feel.

"We had a great group of girls last year, and we have most of them back," said Pounds, who will be without the redshirting Emily Cheroske this fall.

Bailey is coming off a fifth-place finish in the steeplechase at May's Big Sky outdoor track and field championships. Pittis finished 10th in the 1,500 meters, and Colyer is a former Big Sky champion in the 800 meters.

"Reagan is coming into the season very fit," said Pounds. "She's crushing it. The key with her is keeping her healthy."

Nagle, a transfer from Iowa State who has one season of eligibility remaining in cross country and indoor and outdoor track, will race Thursday if she gets final clearance. Otherwise she'll be replaced on the trip by Samantha Engebretsen, the only freshman on the team.

At the River City Roots four-mile race last Saturday, which both teams used as an early fitness test, Colyer led the way with a time of 24:13. She was followed by Pittis (25:20), Bailey (25:24), Creel (25:45) and Nagle (26:07).

Like the women's team, the men's squad that will be competing Thursday will be mostly returners, led by sophomore Jonathan Eastwood, who had an up-and-down freshman cross country season.

Eastwood had a solid track season last spring, and he blitzed the River City Roots course last weekend, finishing clear of his teammates by nearly a full minute.

"Jonathan is incredibly fit right now," said Pounds. "He put some miles in this summer and is looking very consistent."

As expected, Eastwood was followed by juniors Paden Alexander and Nathan Wellington at Saturday's race. Wellington finished either first or second for the Grizzlies at each of their meets last fall.

"I expect great things out of Nathan this year," said Pounds. "And Paden's been steady and looking good in practice."

Also racing Thursday will be sophomores Dillon May and Dawit Mengistu, redshirt freshman Karsten Pease and freshman Noah Kells.

The Grizzlies will compete at the Montana State Invitational on Sept. 17, then host the Montana Invitational on Sept. 30. The final pre-Big Sky meet will be the Inland Empire Challenge in Lewiston, Idaho, on Oct. 15.

"I think a successful season for us would be to finish in the top five on both sides when we return to Moscow for conference," said Pounds. "I would be happy with that, because we're still in the process of building this program.

"Are we better than we were four years ago? Yes, but we still have a ways to go."