Pittis top collegiate finisher at Montana Invitational

Friday, September 29

Missoula, Mont.

Montana

Montana Invitational

Pittis top collegiate finisher at Montana Invitational

9/29/2017 7:56:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: Montana Sports Information

Results

Emily Pittis didn't win the women's race at the Montana Invitational at the UM Golf Course on Friday evening in Missoula, but there was no shame in finishing second and as the top collegiate athlete.

Not when Stephanie Brown, a former 2:02 800-meter runner at Arkansas and top-10 finisher in the 1,500 meters at last year's U.S. Olympic Trials, snuck into the race to compete unattached.

Brown covered the five-kilometer course in a time of 17:47. She was followed by Pittis, who clocked a time of 17:59 to finish more than 11 seconds ahead of her closest pursuer.

It matched Pittis's second-place finish at the season-opening Clash of the Inland Northwest and gives her three top-four finishes this fall in three races.

"I'm starting to know cross a little better. And it's just been a really good training year. I feel really strong and know that I'm not out there alone," she said.

And for the first time this season she wasn't. Samantha Engebretsen, Madeline Hamilton and Jessica Bailey all raced for the first time this season, Hamilton unattached. They came across as Montana's No. 4, 5 and 6 finishers.

It wasn't Montana at its strongest, not with some fitness levels lagging behind, but for the first time coach Vicky Pounds had everyone in uniform instead of a handful cheering from the sideline.

"It felt good to have the whole team out there. I know a lot of them thought it felt awful, but it's only going to go up from here," she said. "I know we're not where we want to be, but we have faith that we'll get there."

It was mostly what was expected at the front of the women's race for the Grizzlies, with Pittis, Reagan Colyer and Maryn Lowry leading the way, as they have all season.

Colyer came through in eighth place, Lowry, who ran the first two races this season like she and Pittis were tethered at the hip, placed ninth, her slight dip in performance the result of a recent illness.

Pittis broke away from her teammates a mile into the course and chased the lead for the rest of the race on her own.

"It felt weird being out there alone, because I've been running with Maryn for everything this year," said Pittis. "We've been a duo.

"When I pushed forward, I could tell she wasn't coming with me. I had to go with the leaders if I didn't want a big gap to open that I couldn't make up later. I didn't want to leave her, but it sometimes happens."

Engebretsen finished 21st, Hamilton 22nd and Bailey 27th.

Montana dropped its duals against both Montana State, 24-35, and Eastern Washington, 26-29. The Bobcats, ranked eighth in this week's USTFCCCA Mountain Region poll, had two finishers in the top five and five in the top 11.

The Montana men's team dropped both of its duals as well, but that wasn't the story. That belonged to Jonathan Eastwood, who sat out the Montana State Invitational with an Achilles injury and hadn't had a race that met his expectations since midway through last fall.

On Friday, he went out with the leaders and held strong through the finish, coming in sixth in a time of 26:05.

"I was able to stay relaxed and didn't let any of the moves anyone made in the front faze me," Eastwood said. "I just took them in stride.

"It's a good confidence booster. I know I can go into October and hit some really good workouts and get ready to take it up another notch."

Eastern Washington's Colton Johnsen won the men's eight-kilometer race in a time of 25:33. He was followed by Brandon Hough of Montana State and Sam Read, who was racing unattached.

With the men's race making two trips up the course's notorious hill, Pounds didn't send her team into the race with much of a plan, knowing the climbs would break up any attempts at racing as a pack.

And she didn't need to. For the second straight race, her guys put together a solid performance. Micah Drew finished 13th, Dillon May 14th, Andrea Baratte 18th and Paden Alexander 19th.

"We didn't send them out with much of a plan other than to try to run together for the first mile," said Pounds, "and they executed that. We didn't have many people working together, but the end result was still good. Everybody raced really solid."

On this day, no Grizzly was better than Eastwood, who was with the race leaders early at the Clash of the Inland Northwest four weeks ago before fading to a 46th-place finish.

"When Jonny went out hot, I was like, oh no, we've seen this before," said Pounds. "But he brought it home. He loves this course, so he had a great attitude going in. His head was in the right spot."

Montana will travel with five women's runners and five from its men's team in two weeks to the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational in Sunnyvale, Calif. The rest of the team will head to Lewiston, Idaho, for the Lewis-Clark State Invitational.