Griz make strides at Dellinger Invitational

Friday, September 22

Eugene, Ore.

12:00 PM (MT)

Montana

Dellinger Invitational

Griz Cross Country races during a cross country meet at the University of Montana Golf Course in Missoula, Montana on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023.

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Montana

9/22/2023 3:36:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Results

By: Montana Sports Information

The top of the lineups had great days for the Montana Cross Country teams at the Oregon Dellinger Invitational on Friday afternoon in Springfield, Ore. Montana had a trio of men's runners post career-best times at the 8K distance while the top three women also had fast times in their first 6K of the year.

Montana finished 11^th in the men's field, and were second among Big Sky teams present, while the women finished 14^th. Nathan Carter had the best finish of the day with the 32^nd fastest run in the men's competition.

The time was a new personal best for Carter, who has made big improvements so far this season. He was eighth on the team at the first meet in Bozeman, ran second last week at home and now has the top Grizzly finish with a time of 24:26.9.

"Nathan had a breakout meet which was absolutely great to see," head coach Doug Fraley said. "He's the kind of runner that we know is very talented and to see things start to come together for him in a big race like that is a great indicator of things to come from him."

Maxwell Scott finished second on Montana and 51^st overall. The Oregon native had led Montana in the first two races of the year and may have again on Friday, but ran into problems on the course. He went to the ground after contact with another runner, and was forced to make a big response to finish well.

The fall didn't rattle him, and his closing splits were good enough to not only bring him back into contention, but also set a new career-best time.

"He got up and ran an amazing race considering how hard it is to hit the ground, get yourself back up, and then catch back up to the pack," Fraley said. "I thought that was a really stellar effort by Max today. To not only get up and complete the race, but to do it in a really good time. I'm just really proud of him."

Carter and Scott weren't the only runners to break 25 minutes for Montana. Sophomore Cooper Morris joined them with a final time of 24:50.1. It was a nearly 30 second improvement from his run last week at the same distance, and is the fastest time of his young career.

"Cooper Morris continues to improve at a rapid rate which is great to see from a sophomore," Fraley said. "He really is starting to get better at these longer distances after coming out of high school as primarily a middle-distance runner. He is really starting to turn the corner as a college cross country runner."

Rogelio Mares finished 82^nd and was joined in the top 100 by freshman Carson Steckelberg, who ran his best time so far as a Grizzly. Lane Cole and Truman Thompson rounded out the day for the Grizzlies.

As a team, Montana had a great kick in the final 1,000 meters with several runners moving up in the final standings from the second-to-last split. Nathan Carter improved at nearly every split after opening in 77^th place after one, rising all the way to his 32^nd-place finish.

"They really moved well through that last thousand. Nate has that foot speed. When he is running well he is deceptively fast, and he showed that in the last thousand today moving up that many spots."

In a very talented and deep field, there was plenty to like for Montana, but also plenty to improve upon. The Grizzlies have high hopes for the Big Sky Championships at home on Oct. 27 and will need to take everything they learned on Friday and turn that into positive progress towards the league race.

"I'm really pleased with the way the first three ran, but we have too big of a gap between our top three and then our four and five," Fraley said. "It's an area that we're going to have to shore up. We're going to need better production out of those spots to be where we need to be and where we expect to be at the Big Sky Championships."

The women's side followed a similar pattern to what it was through the first three meets of the season. For the third straight time, Jade Hallgrimson, Jaylyn Hallgrimson, and Iris McKean made up the top three for Montana, in that order.

Jade Hallgrimson, in her first year with Montana after transferring from Nebraska, was the top finisher with a time of 22:07.1. Her twin sister Jaylyn cracked the top 100 in the meet with a time of 22:21.9, while Iris McKean nearly matched that with a 22:30.6 time and a 103^rd-place finish.

The three all set new career or Montana-best times at this distance on Friday.

"We're getting great leadership out of the Hallgrimson twins. They continue to run one-two for us and they ran fast times today," Fraley said. "Iris continued her breakthrough season by inching closer and closer to Jade and Jaylyn, which is outstanding for a sophomore to really start to break through as a college cross country runner."

Shay Pederson set a new career-best 6K time at 22:49.5 while Kayla Ingraham ran a 23:25.5. They finished in 117^th and 126^th, respectively.

"It's the same issue. We've got three really solid ladies up front and then there is a pretty sizable drop off," Fraley said. "For us to continue to progress as a team, we have to be able to reduce the gap in time and therefore place between the top three and then four and five."

The races featured a handful of nationally ranked teams running very impressive times. On a fast course that is near sea level in elevation, and with a good pace from the start, Fraley liked what he saw from part of the team and knows it will be motivation for others on the squad.

In both cases, it's a positive result and the reason that Fraley fought hard to get his team into the Dellinger.

"We had the top three on both sides run really fast and competitive races today. It will be a learning experience for those that didn't run as well as they wanted to today, and that is precisely why we wanted to get them into that kind of race midseason," Fraley said. "The races today were a lot like what the Big Sky Championship will be on Oct. 27.

Men's Individual Finishes
1. Nathan Carter (24:26.9*, 32^nd)
2. Maxwell Scott (24:47.4*, 51^st)
3. Cooper Morris (24:50.1*, 54^th)
4. Rogelio Mares (25:21.7, 82^nd)
5. Carson Steckelberg (25:34.0, 96^th)
6. Lane Cole (26:57.8, 127^th)
7. Truman Thompson (27:02.7, 128^th)

Women's Individual Finishes
1. Jade Hallgrimson (22:07.1*, 84^th)
2. Jaylyn Hallgrimson (22:21.9*, 98^th)
3. Iris McKean (22:30.6*, 103^rd)
4. Shay Pederson (22:49.5*, 117^th)
5. Kayla Ingraham (23:25.5, 126^th)

*denotes career-best time (or season-best for freshmen)

Team Results

Men's Scores
1. Cal Poly, 41
2. Oregon, 58
3. UC Riverside, 138
4. Idaho, 144
5. California, 162
6. Portland, 164
7. UC Santa Barbara, 197
8. UC Davis, 200
9. UCLA, 201
10. Cal St. Fullerton, 201
11. Montana, 247
12. St. Mary's (Calif.), 298
13. Lewis & Clark, 381
14. Sacramento State, 407

Women's Scores
1. BYU, 42
2. Oregon, 78
3. Cal Poly, 122
4. Oregon State, 148
5. UC Riverside, 164
6. UCLA, 167
7. California, 169
8. UC Davis, 190
9. Cal St. Fullerton, 244
10. Idaho, 265
11. UC Santa Barbara, 302
12. San Diego St., 307
13. Sacramento St., 309
14. Montana, 402