Eastwood, Frissell run to All-Big Sky finishes

Saturday, November 2

Greeley, Colo.

Montana

Big Sky Conference Championship

11/2/2019 3:51:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

PDF Results

By: Montana Sports Information

Senior June Eastwood finished eighth and freshman Beatrix Frissell placed 10th on Saturday at the Big Sky Conference Cross Country Championships at snow-covered Boomerang Golf Course in Greeley, Colo.

Both earned All-Big Sky honors for their finishes, the first time the Grizzlies have had two top-10 finishers since 2010.

"I was hoping for top-10 finishes, and that's where they ended up," said first-year coach Clint May.

"Bea had to move up maybe five places over the final mile. June was pretty much between seventh and ninth place from maybe a half mile on."

The Montana women finished sixth, with Eastwood and Frissell the only Grizzlies in the top 35. The men's team finished 11th. No Grizzlies cracked the top 50.

Northern Arizona, as expected, swept the women's and men's team titles. Idaho and Southern Utah finished second and third in the women's race, Weber State and Montana State in the men's race.

The Greeley area received eight inches of snow earlier in the week, and what was left of the storm dictated the conservative nature of the races.

Only a vehicle-wide path of grass was available on the course and it was highly desirable location. Once runners made their way to semi-decent footing, not much movement took place within the field.

"The conditions were tough, but they were tough for everybody," said May. "We knew yesterday when we previewed the course that it would be sloppy and slow on corners.

"Everybody was trying to get to those two tracks. If you wanted to go around somebody, you had to go out into the snow. It stifled a lot of movement."

May and his women's team traveled to Greeley with hopes of breaking into the top three, but it didn't happen.

Scoring for the Grizzlies behind Eastwood (18:25) and Frissell (18:39) on the five-kilometer course were Samantha Engebretsen (19:49) in 39th, Emily Pittis (19:54) in 41st and Hannah Wylie (19:57) in 42nd.

"Everyone ran, I think, really hard and gave it their best effort but just came up short," said May.

The men's team was picked last in the preseason coaches' poll, so not much was expected from the Grizzlies this fall. Still, Montana had hopes of racing its way into seventh or eighth place.

Things took a wrong turn earlier in the week when sophomore Ben Vanderbosch, who ran so well in California two weeks ago, came down with a sinus infection.

With Vanderbosch running anyway and gutting his way to an 84th-place finish, the Grizzlies were lacking anyone in the top 50.

Hunter May (29:10) placed 51st on the eight-kilometer course, Kyle Peterson (29:18) 55th and Will Dauenhauer (29:37) 62nd.

The team's fourth- and fifth-place runners were both freshmen who made the travel squad through team time trial. Truman Cowan (30:07) was 70th, Maxwell Scott (30:38) finished 73rd.

"Truman and Max, we got out of them what I would have hoped for from freshmen who have not competed in hardly any meets this year," said May. "I was really pleased with them."

Despite the good intentions, it marked the fourth consecutive year Montana has finished 10th or lower at the Big Sky meet. "To be honest, there is a lot of discouragement. It just didn't happen," said May.

Montana will conclude its season on Friday, Nov. 15, at the NCAA Mountain Regional in Salt Lake City.