Griz show improvement at Montana Invitational

Friday, September 15

Missoula, Mont.

9:30 AM

Montana

UM Invitational

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/UM Athletics

9/15/2023 1:28:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Women's Results Men's Results Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana cross country teams recorded plenty of PRs and competed well on the Big Sky Championship course on Friday morning in Missoula. The Grizzlies finished fourth on the men's side and fifth on the women's at the Montana Invitational running against some of the best teams the Big Sky has to offer.

The race is the first official meet of the season for Montana and was run at not only the same distances as the championship, but the exact same course. Head coach Doug Fraley said that he was pleased with the performance from his team.

"The big thing is this gives us an indication of exactly where we are at at this point," Fraley said. "I think we've definitely shown progress from two weeks ago in Bozeman to today. We still have a long way to go, but I thought it was a good step in the progression of the season."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Montana Griz TF & XC (@montanagriztfxc)

Maxwell Scott had the best finish of the day with a ninth-place result on the men's side. Scott hung with the leaders for a long stretch of the race and finished with a career-best time in the 8k of 24:54.05. It's the first time that he's run under 25 minutes, a goal that he knew he could achieve entering the race.

The Bobcats are nationally ranked and were picked to finish second in the Big Sky, so having an elite group of runners to match pace with helped Scott feel good with his run. More important to that, Montana's top runner if finally healthy for the start of a season.

"It felt pretty good. I knew I was ready to run a sub-25," Scott said after the finish. "This is the first cross season that I've come into healthy and without stress fractures. I was feeling good about my fitness and just went with the leaders until I got dropped.

"I love racing against Montana State," Scott said. "I really like to be competing in their top pack, so having them to lock onto in a smaller field like this mentally makes it easy to lock in."

Maxwell Scott is your top Griz finisher with his first sub 25 minute 8k run! #GrizXC | #BigSkyXC | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/Ce8PxGBae4
— Montana Griz TF & XC (@MontanaGrizTFXC) September 15, 2023

Nathan Carter ran second for Montana, closing the final straightaway of the race in a great time to finish in 5:10.93 for a 5:04 pace. Cooper Morris ran just seven seconds behind Carter down the home stretch. They finished 16^th and 18^th, respectively. Carter said that Morris and he fed off each other the whole race.

There was a deliberate decision to start slower, knowing that a massive hill climb awaited them not once, but twice in the race. Carter said that once he was past the hill for the second time in the race, he was able to ramp it back up to the finish line.

"Our team wanted to go out a little bit more conservative because it starts on an uphill. Some of our top guys tried to move into a good spot in the beginning and I know for me personally, I kept my foot on the gas for the first third of the race," Carter said. "It ended up biting me in the second third, but then I was able to close hard for the last third."

Lane Cole finished in 28^th with a time of 25:55.48 and Rogelio Mares finished in 30^th place at 26:00.03 to round out the men's scorers. Scott, Carter, and Cole all ran personal best times.

"Cooper Morris had an outstanding effort to come up and really solidify the number three position on the men's side," Fraley said of the men's performance. "As a group, they are continuing to improve. One of our best guys, Truman Cowan, we held him out with a little bit of a nick as a precaution, but when we are able to put him in it will make a big difference."

Adding Cowan in with the group will help Montana's overall score, and it will also help with the runners on the course. They have some top runners that are in great shape, and should be competitive in the conference.

"I thought the men's side was good. It was great to see Nate run as well as he did after a tough meet in Bozeman a few weeks ago," Fraley said. "He really bounced back. Maxwell is really solid and fit right now, so I think he will continue to progress."

For the second time in as many meets, the Hallgrimson twins led the Montana women's team. Jade had the top finish of the day in the 5k race, finishing 14^th overall in a time of 18:18.81. Jaylyn followed closely behind in 18:21.90 for a 16^th place finish.

The pair were happy to run against Montana State and Weber State, two of the top teams in the conference, and get a feel for where they needed to be at the conference championships in just over a month's time.

If they entered feeling afraid of the course, or of the competition, they left feeling they can conquer the hill and hang with the best of the best.

"We were really excited to be able to run this course and to have some of the competition that's going to be here for conference just to get an idea of where we're at," Jade said. "I think we were a lot more competitive than we thought we would be."

The Grizzlies had the advantage of being able to run the dreaded hill for practice, a task that is about as fun as it sounds but seemed to have paid off on Friday. Jaylyn Hallgrimson made her best move of the race in the hill, passing a large group of runners during the incline.

"I'm really proud of our team. We worked out here on Tuesday and did a lot of hill repeats and I think that allowed us to be super comfortable up that hill," Jaylyn said. "Our coach just wanted us to be confident and to give ourselves a chance to run fast, and I think we all did that today."

Jade and Jaylyn both improved upon their season-opening time in Bozeman by more than 30 seconds. It was a Grizzly-best time for both athletes as well.

Iris McKean finished in third place on Montana and 23^rd overall with a time of 18:32.99, which came within seconds of a career best after she ran an 18:24 at the same event last season. It backed up a strong performance in the first meet for McKean as well, who has solidified her spot as the number three runner on the team.

The focus for McKean and her teammates was to run with everything they had on Friday, and fight through the pain.

"It felt terrible, to be honest, it hurt a lot," McKean said. "But it's a hard course and we were supposed to give it our all, and the outcome is exactly what we were supposed to do which feels good."

Time for the women's race! Go Griz!#GrizXC | #BigSkyXC | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/Ovj3vObt7Z
— Montana Griz TF & XC (@MontanaGrizTFXC) September 15, 2023

Kayla Ingraham finished fourth for Montana and 32^nd overall with a time of 19:02.97. Shay Pederson rounded out the scoring with a 34^th place finish and a time of 19:17.09.

"The Hallgrimsons ran great today in leading our team with really solid performances," Fraley said. "It was an excellent race for Iris, and really a breakthrough race to be our number three and race as well as she did. Some of our younger women that are just getting started showed some promise, so all-in-all a solid effort."

Montana now have the experience of running the championship course, which should help boost the confidence at the Big Sky meet. It was important for Fraley that some other Big Sky schools joined the field as well to give them a measuring stick of where they stand.

While you can practice the hills and particular sections of the course, there is only one way to truly replicate the feeling of kicking off with your team and crossing that finish line at the University Golf Course.

The course map is slightly different than what's been run in the past, and for the nine total newcomers they had never run a race on that course. The experience is crucial to Montana's goal of improving upon last year's results at the Big Sky meet in October.

"Even though it's our home course, you don't come out and practice it as it's laid out for a meet," Fraley said. "The only way to get that experience is to have a true competition on it. The great thing is that a lot of kids didn't know what to expect and so knowing what to mentally prepare for on Oct. 27 is a big deal. To be able to do that while racing against good teams to really simulate a high-level competition which is very valuable."

Montana are still looking to improve. They will compete again next Friday at the Dellinger Invitational hosted by the University of Oregon in Eugene. They wrap up the regular season on Oct. 14 at the LC Invitational hosted by Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho.

Then, it's showtime in Missoula for the Big Sky Conference Championships on Oct. 27.

"We've got a long way to go, but as long as we keep improving meet-to-meet it will give us a chance to improve our performance at the Big Sky Championships versus last year," Fraley said.

Gallery: (9-15-2023) XC: Montana Invitational (9.15.23)

Men's Team Standings
1. Montana State – 15
2. Eastern Washington – 78
3. CSU-Pueblo – 81
4. Montana – 101
5. Carroll – 138
6. Rocky Mountain – 139
7. MSU-Billings – 215
8. Clark College - 236

Women's Team Standings
1. Montana State – 29
2. Weber State – 61
3. CSU-Pueblo – 73
4. Eastern Washington -81
5. Montana – 119
6. Carroll – 200
7. Rocky Mountain – 206
8. Clark College – 241
9. MSU-Billings - 272

Montana Men's Finishes
1. Maxwell Scott (24:54.05*, 9^th)
2. Nathan Carter (25:10.93*, 16^th)
3. Cooper Morris (25:17.76, 18^th)
4. Lane Cole (25:55.48*, 28^th)
5. Rogelio Mares (26:00.03, 30^th)
6. Truman Thompson (26:06.82, 33^rd)
7. Carson Steckelberg (26:08.95, 35^th)
8. Zachary Giesch (26:23.91, 41^st)
9. Colin Shaules (26:41.58, 46^th)
10. Henry Ballinger (26:48.34, 50^th)

Montana Women's Finishes
1. Jade Hallgrimson (18:18.81*, 14^th)
2. Jaylyn Hallgrimson (18:21.90*, 16^th)
3. Iris McKean (18:32.99, 23^rd)
4. Kayla Ingraham (19:02.27, 32^nd)
5. Shay Pederson (19:17.09, 34^th)
6. Layne Lathrop (19:21.70*, 36^th)
7. Bridget Boyle (20:04.32, 45^th)
8. Kaden Leverenz (20:10.95*, 63^rd)
9. Ella Rubel (20:18.07*, 67^th)
10. Ashtyn Wagner (20:19.71, 68^th)
11. Abby Sherwood (21:05.30, 76^th)