Griz exceed expectations at Big Sky Championships

The Grizzly cross country teams exceeded preseason expectations at a Big Sky Championship meet in snowy conditions on Friday afternoon at the University of Montana Golf Course. The men finished sixth overall, matching the highest finish by Montana since 2015, while the women moved up a spot to eighth.

Northern Arizona, the No. 1 ranked team in the country on both the men's and women's sides, won both team titles and swept the individual champions.

Montana were tabbed eighth in the preseason cross country polls on both sides, improving upon those predictions Friday. It's positive progress for the program under second-year head coach Doug Fraley, but even so the coach has high expectations for his squads.

"Certainly not what we necessarily wanted but progress is progress," Fraley said. "We're better than we were last year at this point, so if we're going to move I'm glad we're moving in the right direction."

The women started things off in the late morning, running on a track that was cleared off from the fresh snow overnight. Jade and Jaylyn Hallgrimson started out together at the front of the Grizzly pack through the opening mile.

Jaylyn took command in the second mile over the hill, moving up from 35^th to 34^th at the two-mile split. She maintained that momentum all the way through the finish, ending up as the top Grizzly for the second straight race and placing 33^rd overall with a time of 18:35.40.

"She's been running great here for two years and today was no different," Fraley said "She led the way for us with a good finish and I'm really proud of the way that she's run this season. She improved a lot in the time that she's been here at Montana and just a really good effort from her."

Sophomore Iris McKean continued to get better and better as the race went along and finished on a sprint to take 47^th overall and second on Montana. McKean opened the first mile in 54^th and jumped up at each split. She ran the last mile with Jade Hallgrimson, who finished 49^th with a time of 19:07.30.

On a day where temperatures remained in the 20s, it made it even more important to have a teammate there to help you down the stretch.

"I needed Jade so badly in that race to motivate me and she needed me too," McKean said. "It's just so much easier to run with somebody so it was definitely some good teamwork in that last half mile or so. It's so easy to be disheartened and demoralized by snow coming at you in all directions, snow on the ground. The team aspect was huge today and I think we worked together really well."

McKean has been steady all season with a top three finish in every meet. The Glasgow product had her highest finish of the year in the championship.

"Iris is only a sophomore and she just continues to improve and making small steps that are adding up into number two today," Fraley said. "I thought she was great."

Shay Pederson ran fourth for the Grizzlies, followed by a pair of freshmen in Kaden Leverenz and Layne Lathrop. Bridget Boyle and Kayla Ingraham rounded out the results for the women.

Maxwell Scott continued a fantastic season with a top 25 finish. He becomes the first Grizzly runner since 2016 to accomplish the feat. In a pack of fast runners, Scott got out to a great start with a sub-five minute first mile. The second time around the hill slowed his pace down, but he would hold on for a time of 25:08.30.

"It was a good job for everyone to stay tough out there and stay competitive. I feel like I held my spot pretty well," Scott said. "The first hill I took it easy and thought I was saving something for the end, but I guess everyone else was too. I got gassed up the second hill, I just had to hold on for the finish."

Gallery: (10-27-2023) XC: Big Sky Championship (10.27.23)

The top three for Montana were all inside the top 32 overall as Cooper Morris and Nathan Carter ran under 25:30. Morris ran inside the top 25 for much of the race while Carter kicked strong down the stretch.

The snow picked up during the men's race, creating less than ideal running conditions. Morris said that the Grizzlies embraced the test that mother nature provided.

"Conditions were pretty brutal but it was a good race," Morris said. "It felt good, I tried really hard, and I appreciated the conditions. It's the Big Sky Championship so we embraced it."

Morris and Scott both ran very fast opening miles, which could have been to do with the increased competition level.

"We didn't see all these teams in the regular season so seeing them here and knowing that it was going to be competitive," Morris said. "We're always ready to bring it on so seeing a stacked field with some of the best teams in the nation, it felt good to go out there."

The trio helped Montana to a sixth place overall finish with 176 points. They had a lead on Eastern Washington through the first mile but ended up 20 points behind the Eagles. It was still a solid effort with good results from the top of Montana's lineup.

"In this league, a top 25 finish is excellent," Fraley said. "Max, Cooper and Nate did today what they have done all year by leading us in there. We were in a position where the four and five guys had to really scrap to come in there in the end."

Freshman Truman Thompson had a consistent race to narrowly miss out on a top 50 finish. He finished fourth for Montana with a time just outside of 26 minutes. He led a big group of Grizzlies across the line, as Lane Cole (53^rd), Rogelio Mares (54^th), and Carson Steckelberg (55^th) all finished in a row for Montana. Zachary Giesch finished 60^th.

The team showed some major improvement over the course of the 2023 season. A young lineup drastically improved upon last year's finish at the Big Sky Championship, which is a good sign for the head coach.

"We were picked for eighth, we were eighth last year, and we were aiming for those fifth or sixth positions and so I'm pleased with the progress on the men's side," Fraley said.

Fraley began at Montana over the summer of 2022 and was quickly thrust into the cross country season. Montana's women had finished 10^th in 2021 and the men were coming off a seventh place finish. It was a quick adjustment, but Montana has settled in during Fraley's second year.

Assistant coach AJ Eckmann and volunteer coach Erin Clark, who oversee the distance group, have worked closely with the group and helped lead Montana to a good finish as the host school.

"It's really good for me to see progress from year one to year two. It means we're getting better with the people we have and we feel good with the pieces that we have that are going to take us forward in the future," Fraley said. "AJ (Eckmann) and Erin (Clark) are doing a good job of guiding these distance runners so I feel confident that we're going to continue to move up in the future."

Fraley also credited everyone that helped make the event possible. In Montana you always have to know that winter weather is possible, but the storm that passed through during the week made it a challenge to get the course operational. A lot of work went into making the event run as smoothly as it did.

"From an operations standpoint, things went really well considering the weather we were dealt for set up and course maintenance up until five minutes before the race started," Fraley said. "Montana's facilities staff, our track and field and cross country staff, and a lot of volunteers really put a lot of time into it to make it a very successful championship."

Montana Women's Finishers
1. Jaylyn Hallgrimson (18:35.40, 33^rd)
2. Iris McKean (19:04.90, 47^th)
3. Jade Hallgrimson (19:07.30, 49^th)
4. Shay Pederson (19:29.40, 61^st)
5. Kaden Leverenz (19:42.30, 64^th)
6. Layne Lathrop (19:51.10, 68^th)
7. Bridget Boyle (20:14.80, 72^nd)
8. Kayla Ingraham (20:32.20, 76^th)

Women's Team Results
1. Northern Arizona, 15
2. Montana State, 57
3. Weber State, 107
4. Idaho, 109
5. Eastern Washington, 145
6. Sacramento State, 154
7. Northern Colorado, 194
8. Montana, 240
9. Idaho State, 251
10. Portland State, 255

Montana Men's Finishers
1. Maxwell Scott (25:08.30, 25^th)
2. Cooper Morris (25:13.80, 28^th)
3. Nathan Carter (25:17.50, 32^nd)
4. Truman Thompson (26:03.20, 51^st)
5. Lane Cole (26:09.90, 53^rd)
6. Rogelio Mares (26:19.90, 54^th)
7. Carson Steckelberg (26:21.00, 55^th)
8. Zachary Giesch (26:57.60, 60^th)

Men's Team Results
1. Northern Arizona, 20
2. Montana State, 45
3. Weber State, 79
4. Idaho, 119
5. Eastern Washington, 156
6. Montana, 176
7. Idaho State, 181
8. Northern Colorado, 261
9. Sacramento State, 271
10. Portland State, 300

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Bridget Boyle

Nathan Carter

Lane Cole

Zachary Giesch

Jade Hallgrimson

Jaylyn Hallgrimson

Kayla Ingraham

Layne Lathrop

Kaden Leverenz

Rogelio Mares

Iris McKean

Cooper Morris

Shay Pederson

Maxwell Scott

Carson Steckelberg

Truman Thompson

Related Videos