Griz runners back in action in Bozeman

The Grizzlies are heading back to Bozeman for their second cross country meet of the season. The 45^th annual MSU Cross Country Classic will take place Saturday morning from the Bridger Creek Cross Country Course. Live results can be tracked online.

Nine male athletes will run the 8K course in Bozeman, beginning at 9 a.m., led by Nathan Carter, who was Montana's top performer two weeks ago in the Grizzlies' season-opening race. Also representing Montana's men's team will be Lane Cole, Casey Crouch, Will Dauenhauer, Josh Haynes, Rogelio Mares, Cooper Morris, Colin Shaules and Brady Woods.

The women's race will be a 5K run, beginning at 9:45 a.m., with Bridget Boyle, Beatrix Frissell, Leah Gath, Jaylyn Hallgrimson, Annie Hill, Kayla Ingraham, Iris McKean, Shay Pederson and Abby Sherwood competing.

Doug Fraley, who is Montana's acting cross country coach this fall, was on his first days of the job when Montana last ran, on Sept. 2. Fraley is still fresh to the position, but he's excited to see how much his athletes have progressed over the past two weeks of training, and is continuing to use this weekend as a building block moving forward.

"Two weeks ago was an icebreaker, and it was good to get a race in – even though it was pretty low key – to find out where we were at," Fraley said. "We're looking forward to this meet, though, because it truly is the start of the season. We'll have a bit more of a complete team and this will be another good barometer to see if we've made progress over the past couple of weeks."

Saturday will be the collegiate debuts for Morris, a freshman from Pueblo, Colorado, and Pederson, a freshman from Alta Loma, California. It will also be the Griz debut for Hill, a highly touted runner who comes to Montana as a graduate transfer after running four seasons at the University of Colorado. In 2019, Hill placed 16^th at the Pac-12 Championships, 36^th at NCAA Regionals and helped the Buffs to a 10^th-place finish at nationals.

Scheduled to compete on Saturday are Big Sky schools Montana, Montana State, Idaho State and Weber State, in addition to a handful of NAIA schools from the Treasure State.

In the most-recent USTFCCCA rankings, Montana State's men rank 24^th in the nation and fifth in the Mountain Region. Weber State (No. 10) and Idaho State (No. 13) are also regionally ranked. Weber State (No. 11) and Montana State (No. 14) are regionally ranked in this week's women's Mountain Region poll.

"This is a big step up in competition and will be a little bit of a preview of some of the better teams in the Big Sky," Fraley said. "It will be great to see what our kids can do against a higher level of competition."

Following this weekend's meet, Montana will then gear up for its only home meet of the season, on Friday, Sept. 30, in Missoula. Prior to that, the Grizzlies will host a Homecoming Track-A-Thon fundraiser on Friday, Sept. 23. More information can be found online.

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Players Mentioned

Bridget Boyle

Nathan Carter

Lane Cole

Casey Crouch

Will Dauenhauer

Beatrix Frissell

Leah Gath

Jaylyn Hallgrimson

Josh Haynes

Annie Hill

Kayla Ingraham

Rogelio Mares

Iris McKean

Cooper Morris

Shay Pederson

Colin Shaules

Abby Sherwood

Brady Woods

University of Montana Athletics