Griz host UM Invitational on Friday

The Montana cross country team will host its annual UM Invitational this Friday evening at the UM Golf Course. The Grizzlies will welcome six other schools from the state to compete in the women's 5K race and the men's 8K race.

It's the mid-point of the season for Montana, giving the young Grizzlies the opportunity to take what they've learned from a competitive first two weeks on the road. It's been a very positive start to the year for a team composed almost entirely of underclassmen.

"We feel good about the exposure that the young kids have had. We're getting good leadership from our returning runners that have led the pack in the first couple of races," head coach Doug Fraley said. "It's fun to see all the newcomers start to get some confidence after racing a couple of times and seeing the competitiveness of the new group. It's been really good through the first two meets."

The returners will be running a familiar course as the Grizzlies hosted both the UM Invitational and the Big Sky Championship last season. The weather will be a little bit different from the last time around when snow filled the course and winter weather provided an additional challenge.

The newcomers, of which Montana has plenty, will get to run their home course in a competitive setting for the first time ever.

"Everybody is really excited about racing at home this week," Fraley said. "We're looking forward to getting on our own course to compete against a lot of the schools in the state of Montana. We're excited to be hosting, and the kids are all excited about competing at home."

The Grizzlies ran in very talented fields in the first two weeks of competition, and got good results from their top runners. Henry Ballinger has led the men's team in both meets, running personal best times in the 5k and the 8k already this year.

Carson Steckelberg has been right behind him in both meets as the duo has formed a strong partnership. A fellow sophomore, Steckelberg has also run personal best times in both meets this season.

They've helped lead Montana to a second-place result in the season-opener and a ninth-place finish at last week's loaded event hosted by Washington State.

The women have had similar team results with third- and tied for eighth-place finishes through two weeks. Newcomer Abigail Kotran has been the top performer of the season, running a 19:15.4 5K time in the first meet and finishing as Montana's top runner with a time of 22:32.0 in the 6K meet last week.

The competition level will drop a bit this week, but it gives Montana a chance to run for some titles on their home course.

"After going up to MSU and competing against a top 25 team and then going to compete against multiple regionally ranked teams last week in Pullman, our kids are really excited to get home and try to win their home meet," Fraley said. "It's very exciting, especially for a young squad."

The meet will feature Carroll College, Dawson CC, Montana Tech, Montana Western, MSU-Northern, and Rocky along with several individual runners competing unattached.

This weekend will provide Montana with another great opportunity to get experience for its young runners. It's race three out of five in the regular season for the Grizzlies, and Fraley knows his team is itching to take advantage of every opportunity they can get.

The fact that they will be at home in front of their own fans, in temperatures expected to be in the high 60s, just gives them all the more reason to put together their best runs of the season.

"This is the opportunity for our kids to come back and show that they've grown from the stiff competition over the last two weeks and really be able to take advantage of that on their home course," Fraley said. "I know that they all want to come out and show what they can do after the growth that they've had through the first two meets."

MONTANA MEN'S ENTRIES
Morgan Amano – FR
Henry Ballinger – SO
Keagen Crosby – FR
Zachary Giesch – SO
Lane Krautschun – FR
Luke Mest – FR
Colin Shaules – JR
Carson Steckelberg – SO

MONTANA WOMEN'S ENTRIES
Abigail Case – JR
Olivia Coll – SO
Libby Hartz – FR
Sofia Hinderman – FR
Kayla Ingraham – SR
Abigail Kotran – FR
Layne Lathrop – SO
Iris McKean – JR
Heidi Olson – FR
Shay Pederson – JR
Brianna Plant – FR
Lucy Thompson – FR
Ashtyn Wagner - SO

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Players Mentioned

Morgan Amano

Henry Ballinger

Abigail Case

Olivia Coll

Keagen Crosby

Zachary Giesch

Libby Hartz

Sofia Hinderman

Kayla Ingraham

Abigail Kotran

Lane Krautschun

Layne Lathrop

Iris McKean

Luke Mest

Heidi Olson

Shay Pederson

Brianna Plant

Colin Shaules

Carson Steckelberg

Lucy Thompson

Ashtyn Wagner

University of Montana Athletics