Griz reach championship week

The Montana cross country teams will race on Friday at the Big Sky Conference Championships in Hillsboro, Ore.

The races will be held at the Meriwether National Golf Course, with the women's five-kilometer race starting at noon (MT), the men's eight-kilometer race at 1 p.m. (MT).

The men's race, as it has been for years, is heavy at the top, with Northern Arizona the No. 1-ranked team in the country.

The Lumberjacks top the strong NCAA Mountain Region, with Montana State (seventh), Southern Utah (eighth) and Weber State (ninth) also in the top 10.

It will be the other ranked teams that Montana is more concerned with if the Grizzlies hope to crack the top five for the first time in a decade.

Portland State is ranked ninth in the West Region, Idaho 15th. Idaho State is ranked 14th in the Mountain Region, Montana 15th.

That's eight teams holding a regional ranking out of 11 in the Big Sky Conference.

"The big, lofty goal would be a fifth-place finish. We'd have to run better than we have all year to beat those other programs," said coach Clint May.

"If they are great on that day, we might be great and still come out eighth, but it would be the best finish we've had in a long, long time here. That's just the nature of the conference."

May will bring the six athletes he raced at the UC Riverside Invitational two weeks ago, plus two, Maxwell Scott and Thomas Mordy, who raced the week before at the MSU Billings Yellowjacket Open.

At Riverside, on a hard-packed, fast course, Joel Mendez, Jordan Hansen, Ben Vanderbosch and AJ Eckmann all broke 25 minutes for the eight-kilometer course.

"If I could have taken (Scott and Mordy) to California, it could have been two more guys under 25 minutes," said May.

"That's the strength we have on the guys' side. We have eight guys and it's very difficult to know who will be the scoring five. If I have to count on any of the eight, we're in a good spot."

That was the kind of depth Montana showcased in February at the COVID-altered Big Sky championships. Mendez finished 40th, with the Grizzlies' next five runners cracking the top 50.

Now that group is older, stronger, faster and ready to challenge teams that had previously been out of Montana's weight class.

"I feel we could do something similar, with Joel going in the top 30 and then the remainder of our scoring five in the top 40," said May.

"If that were to happen, there would be the strong possibility that we got the job done and finished fifth."

Where the men's team is experienced and deep, the women's team May sends to the course on Friday will be marked by inexperience.

Four of the seven who will be racing will be at their first Big Sky championship race.

Junior Beatrix Frissell earned All-Big Sky honors with a 10th-place finish as a freshman in 2019 and placed 12th in February, but she is still working her way back to that all-league form.

The only other athletes who raced in February and will be joining Frissell on the starting line on Friday will be Olivia Lackland Henry and Carly Dahms.

Lackland Henry placed 27th last winter, finishing as the top freshman. Dahms was 71st.

"We'll miss having a couple of our runners there, but everyone is moving nicely," said May. "I'm optimistic that it will be our best performance of the year.

"I don't know what the result will be. If we focus on the placing, it could be frustrating. I'm just going to focus on how the girls race."

Northern Arizona is ranked 19th nationally, sixth in the Mountain Region. Weber State (8), Southern Utah (12), Montana State (14) and Idaho State (15) also are ranked.

In the West Region, Portland State is 12th, Idaho is 15th.

"I'd hope we would have five girls under 19 minutes. Seven would be great but five would be the goal," said May.

"Conditions can change that. The course is going to be pretty soft, maybe even soggy because of rain in Portland all week. That will slow it a bit and create different race dynamics."

Lackland Henry led Montana and finished third overall at the season-opening Clash of the Inland Northwest last month before she had to miss races due to injury.

Bridget Boyle, in the absence of Lackland Henry and Frisell, led the Grizzlies at their next two races.

Dahms led a squad of four in Billings in early October, placing 14th at the Yellowjacket Open. Competing for the first time this fall in a UM uniform, Frissell placed 28th at Riverside to lead the Grizzlies.

"How can each of our seven girls have the best race they've had this season? That's the goal for Friday," said May.

"You don't have to have a PR to know. You just know. How did you go into the race? How did you approach the opening mile? Were you resilient and tough and striving to move up in the second mile? And did you finish with a lot of grit through the third mile?"

Montana will conclude its season on Friday, Nov. 12, at the NCAA Mountain Regional in Provo, Utah. May will have six men and six women competing.

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Players Mentioned

Bridget Boyle

Carly Dahms

AJ Eckmann

Beatrix Frissell

Jordan Hansen

Olivia Lackland Henry

Joel Mendez

Thomas Mordy

Maxwell Scott

Ben Vanderbosch

University of Montana Athletics