Montana back in action on Saturday in Bozeman

Saturday, September 16

Bozeman, Mont.

Montana

Montana State Invitational

9/15/2017 3:35:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: Montana Sports Information

2017 Performance List

The Montana cross country teams, which opened their seasons two weeks ago hosting the Clash of the Inland Northwest, will be back in action on Saturday morning when the Grizzlies compete at the Montana State/Bozeman Running Company Invitational.

The 41st edition of the race will take place at the Bridger Creek Golf Course, with the men's five-mile race starting at 9 a.m., the women's three-mile race at 9:45 a.m.

The races will have a Big Sky Conference feel to them as league teams make up a majority of the fields. Joining Montana and Montana State will be Idaho State, North Dakota, Northern Colorado and the women's team from Utah.

Also competing will be teams from MSU Billings, Carroll, MSU Northern and Rocky Mountain.

"This is the closest race to (the Big Sky championships) we'll have this fall in terms of numbers and level of competition," said coach Vicky Pounds.

In the women's race, Utah, which is traveling with a squad of 20, will be the heavy favorite to defend its 2016 team title. The Utes are ranked No. 5 in the USTFCCCA Mountain Region, 22nd nationally.

The next highest-ranked team is Montana, at No. 9 in the region, but the Grizzlies might be shorthanded.

Racing for sure will be Emily Pittis, Maryn Lowry and Reagan Colyer, all of whom were top 10 at the Clash of the Inland Northwest, with Pittis and Lowry finishing second and third.

They will be joined by freshmen Madison Ward and Maeve Holman. With Jessica Bailey sidelined two weeks ago, Ward was the team's No. 4 runner.

Bailey and Emily Cheroske are both questionable for Saturday's race because of injuries.

"We'll have five for sure, and I'd rather play it safe with the other two," said Pounds. "I'm not stressing about it or putting pressure on these kids. It's the nature of the sport. You just have to go with the flow."

Montana State is the only other team in the field that is ranked in the region, at No. 12 this week, three spots behind the Grizzlies.

"I know what the rankings are, but if we hold out some runners and finish farther back, that really won't bother me," said Pounds. "With the way we entered the season, I knew we wouldn't have our best team until later in the fall. It's going to take time to get everyone healthy."

The men's team will race with seniors Paden Alexander and Micah Drew, junior Dillon May and four underclassmen: sophomore Noah Kells and freshmen Andrea Baratte, Kyle Kredo and Kyle Peterson.

Alexander, in 20th, and May, in 37th, were the only two Montana runners in the top 40 at the Clash of the Inland Northwest.

Peterson had a surprising No. 3 finish for the team, Kredo came through as the team's sixth-place runner, behind Jonathan Eastwood, who isn't racing on Saturday, and Drew.

"I know the guys' team will be down the standings on Saturday. They are not quite there yet, but I'm starting to see some things in practice that make me excited," said Pounds.

One is the emergence of her freshmen. Peterson raised some eyes at the season-opening meet, and Kredo ran solidly as well.

Baratte will be making his collegiate cross country debut on Saturday.

"I don't have him doing as much volume yet, but he's a very competitive, very smooth runner," said Pounds. "He's working in well with the guys' team."

That infusion of talented youth has given the team a dynamic in workouts that Pounds has seen ... never from her men's team.

"I saw something this week from the guys' team that I haven't seen in my history of working with them," she said. "They ran together as a pack for our mile repeats, so hopefully it's a turning point for them when they felt that energy of working together.

"We've tried to do that in the past, but the guys have always been too spread out with where they are fitness-wise. We've got some guys now who have come in and want to be good cross country runners. Our number of longer-distance guys is higher."

Among the men's teams, only Montana State is regionally ranked. The Bobcats check in at No. 12 this week in the Mountain Region.