Women 7th, men 8th at Montana State Invitational

Saturday, September 17

Bozeman, Mont.

Montana

Montana State Invitational

9/17/2016 12:46:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: Montana Sports Information

Women's Results | Men's Results

For the second time in two races this fall, the Montana cross country teams were led by senior Reagan Colyer and sophomore Jonathan Eastwood.

Colyer placed 23rd in the women's three-mile race Saturday morning at the Montana State Invitational at the Bridger Creek Golf Course in Bozeman. Eastwood finished 26th in the men's five-mile race.

Both crossed the line in career-best times to lead the Grizzlies to a seventh-place finish in the women's race and eighth-place finish in the men's.

The Montana women finished third out of the six Big Sky Conference teams competing, the men fourth out of six.

"There is definitely room for improvement, but I was really impressed with what everybody did today," said coach Vicky Pounds. "This was a much more competitive race than in years past, which is great."

Utah won the women's race, followed by Weber State, Wyoming, Utah State and Montana State. CSU Pueblo won a tight men's race, edging out Utah State, Weber State, Wyoming and Idaho State.

The top three finishers from the Montana women's team all had significant PRs. Colyer's time of 17:28 was a 15-second PR, while sophomore Emily Pittis, who ran a 17:35, had a 50-second improvement from last year's MSU Invitational.

Sophomore Jessica Bailey did Pittis one-second better, running a 51-second PR over last year's race to finish 43rd in a time of 17:53.

"The race went out fast. Emily and Reagan worked really well through most of the race to move up," Pounds said.

Sophomore Bridget Creel (18:31), senior Madison Nagle (18:32) and sophomore Rosa Hardarson (18:33) all finished together. Running just her third cross country race, Hardarson's previous best time at a comparable five-kilometer distance was 20:39.

Weber State's Hailey Whetten (16:38) and Ellie Child (16:42) finished first and second in the women's race.

Eastwood was "a bit disappointed," said Pounds, but the sophomore showed major improvement from his freshman-year time at the same race last fall. His 26:36 a year ago got cut down to 25:28 on Saturday. He was the No. 7 runner from the six Big Sky Conference teams competing.

Montana did not place any other individuals in the top 50, though junior Paden Alexander's time of 26:20, which put him in 59th place, was a 20-second PR.

"A lot of the guys either ran PRs or course PRs, and they all executed my plan of racing in a pack, which is all I asked," said Pounds. "There were a lot of runners, so it was harder to maneuver and make your way up through the group. But they ran well. They were solid."

Junior Nathan Wellington, who finished 71st in a time of 26:36, and sophomore Dillon May, who was 93rd in 27:09, cracked the top 100.

Derrick Williams (24:30) and Marcelo Laguera (24:32), both from CSU Pueblo, finished first and second.

The Grizzlies will host the Montana Invitational at the UM Golf Course on Friday morning, Sept. 30.