Griz continue season on Saturday morning in Bozeman

The Montana cross country teams, under first-year coach Clint May, will continue their fall season on Saturday morning when the Grizzlies race at the Montana State Cross Country Classic in Bozeman.

The longstanding race will be held at the Bridger Creek Golf Course. The men's five-mile race starts at 9 a.m., the women's three-mile race at 9:45 a.m.

The race will feature athletes from Montana, Montana State, Idaho State and Utah State, plus runners from a number of non-Division I programs.

May will travel with 17 Grizzlies to Bozeman, nine from his men's team, eight from his women's team, and there are intriguing storylines to watch in both races.

In the men's race, Montana will be looking to improve upon last year's finish, when the Grizzlies came in a distant third behind the Bobcats and Bengals.

Montana State put its top eight runners across the finish line before Montana's first passed through, Idaho State its top five before Kyle Peterson led the Grizzlies across the line.

Seven of those eight Bobcats are back in 2019, which should give May a good measure of how his first team is progressing.

"I'd love to break into that group, and I think that we can. I think a lot of our guys are quite a bit better than they were last year at this point," May said. "I know what I'm seeing in practice. I'm projecting, in some cases, 30 to 40 seconds faster.

"Montana State is quite talented, so we may not crack into their top five, but I'd definitely like to crack into their top eight, something that didn't happen last year."

Montana State and Idaho State were picked fourth and sixth in this year's Big Sky Conference preseason poll, ahead of 11th-place Montana.

No matter what happens with the team results, May will be looking for post-race confirmation that he has a program on the rise, a look from another coach, an acknowledgement, spoken or otherwise.

"My biggest hope, and I've experienced this as a coach, is that the coaches on the other teams go, 'Oh boy, Montana is right there. They are as strong as we've seen them in the last few years,' " May said.

"It's hard to explain how that feels as a coach, when you have a new level of respect as a program. My goal for both teams on Saturday is to create perhaps a non-verbal but felt result, like, 'Whoa, that team has made some improvements.' "

Montana opened its season in late August at the Clash of the Inland Northwest in Cheney, Wash.

The men's team placed fifth on the six-kilometer course, defeating the host Eagles by two points.

The women's team placed second on the four-kilometer course, coming in behind Gonzaga and surprising third-place Idaho, which was picked ahead of the Grizzlies in the preseason poll.

It will be an even more competitive field on Saturday.

The Utah State women were picked fourth in the strong Mountain West Conference. Montana State was picked fourth in the Big Sky poll, Montana sixth, Idaho State seventh.

"I think the dynamics of the race, with a fast front end and then a lot of people after that, will be very similar to the Inland Northwest," said May.

"Our athletes are ready to go. Having three weeks between races has been good, but there is also the feeling of, let's get this thing going again. It's a longer break than most of them are used to."

Montana placed three runners in the top 10 at the Inland Northwest, with freshman Beatrix Frissell turning heads with her first-place finish.

Seniors June Eastwood and Samantha Engebretsen finished seventh and ninth overall.

Frissell won't be the favorite to win on Saturday, but she'll be a curiosity for sure. Freshmen who make an early splash tend to create a stir.

Count Frissell, who is no stranger to pre-race pressure as a prep star in Montana the last few years, among those who wonder how she'll do in a race that will be faster and deeper at the front of the field than the one she won three weeks ago.

"It makes it more exciting when people have expectations and are looking at you," she said. "At the same time, as a freshman, I'm curious too, because I'm not sure what's going to happen or how it's going to turn out."

Frissell was named the Big Sky Conference Athlete of the Week following her debut.

"I'm feeling really, really good," she said. "I'm feeling better than I've ever felt. I'm actually shocked I'm feeling so good. I feel stronger than I've ever felt before during a cross country season."

It was just last weekend that May was on the same course that his team will be racing on Saturday. He was in his former hometown to attend and recruit the Bozeman XC Invitational high school race.

He's also been going to the Montana State Cross Country Classic for years and years, always as a spectator and fan while coaching at Bozeman High.

On Saturday it will just mean a little more.

"I'm super excited. It's going to be quite a bit different. Anytime I went to this meet the last 22 years, it was just as a fan of cross country watching a college meet," said May, who raced for Montana State in the early 90s.

"To be able to be with a college team and have it be the University of Montana, I'm very excited about that. I don't know how to explain how it's happened, but I'm feeling very Grizzly right now. I love it."

University of Montana Athletics

Griz continue season on Saturday morning in Bozeman

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