Grizzly men have best finish since 2011 at Big Sky Championship

Saturday, November 1

Bozeman, Mont.

11:00 AM

Montana

Big Sky Conference Championship

Photo by: Jackson Wagner

Grizzly men have best finish since 2011 at Big Sky Championship

11/1/2025 4:20:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Results

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's cross country team, led by another top 20 finish from Carson Steckelberg, had its best finish at the Big Sky Championship since 2011 with a 5^th place finish in Bozeman.

The Grizzlies exceeded preseason expectations on both sides. The men finished 7^th last season at the conference meet and the women finished 10^th. Both teams moved up this year with the Montana men scoring 146 points to finish 5^th and the women finishing 9^th with 235 points.

"I'm really proud of the teams for showing improvement from a season ago. It's always the first goal and we were able to accomplish that," head coach Doug Fraley said. "The men did a great job. They didn't have their best day, but they are getting good enough and have the depth in the lineup that they can change around the order and we saw that today."

Last year, Steckelberg became the first Grizzly since Lynn Reynolds in 2011 to place in the top 20 at the Big Sky Championship. The Bozeman product followed it up this year with another top 20 finish, coming in 17^th overall with a time of 24:54.8.

He hung behind the lead group that consisted mostly of the nationally ranked Northern Arizona runners early in the race on a course that he was very familiar with as a graduate of Gallatin HS in Bozeman.

Once they entered the final loop of the course, Steckelberg kicked into a different gear to once again finish top 20 in the competitive conference.

"It hurt, I won't deny that. It's been a minute since I've ran in Bozeman and it always makes me realize Bozeman is higher elevation," Steckelberg said. "It's pretty much the same course I ran in high school with one more loop around so it kind of felt like home. It was fun running with the boys and racing a decent race today."

The slow start was characteristic of what Steckelberg has done for much of this season. Both he and Fraley said that the strategy of the day depended much more on positioning than timing.

"I went out and AJ wanted us to be in the 12^th to 18^th position," Steckelberg said. "I like to start a little slower in the race because I like to work up and I like the idea of passing people towards the end where if I pass them, they hopefully won't come back. I hit mile three and I knew I had to go if I really wanted to reach the spot that I wanted."

The same trio of runners that have led the Grizzly men all season did so again in Bozeman. Zachary Giesch set the early pace for Montana, hanging with the top group early on and pulling Steckelberg and Luke Mest with him.

Mest would overcome Giesch in the closing stretch and finish 30^th overall with a time of 25:30.2. Giesch would finish just a few spots behind at 32^nd with a time of 25:36.9.

The rest of the Grizzly scoring lineup consisted of sophomore Lane Krautschun (42^nd) and freshman Henry Sund (44^th). The duo had combined for just one top five finish this season for the Grizzlies, but had great runs when the team needed them most.

"It doesn't matter what the times are, the only thing that matters at this race is where you finish," Fraley said. "Our guys ran smart, they progressed through the race, and we had a change in the lineup for Lane Krautschun running in the four spot and coming kind of out of nowhere. It's what we've been doing all year, different guys plugging in to give us good finishes."

It all led to the best finish for the Grizzlies since finishing 4^th in 2011. Steckelberg, a junior, had a great homecoming and will return along with the rest of the scoring lineup for what could be a special season in 2026.

"It's really special to see Carson run like that coming back to Bozeman," Fraley said. "He has just progressed from year to year and he's our big leader on the men's side in so many ways. For him to be able to come race in his hometown and crack the top 20 is just fantastic. We're really proud of that effort."

The women's team is young but made great progress in 2025, moving up one spot in the team standings. Heidi Olson led the Grizzlies with a time of 18:13.7 to place 50^th overall. Olson, a sophomore, was the top Grizzly runner for the first time this season.

Kayla Ingraham, the fastest Grizzly in the first five races of the season, finished just five seconds later in 51^st overall. The duo have been the top two for Montana now in five of the six races.

Behind them were a pair of new faces in Malia Bradford and Ashtyn Wagner. Bradford, a local Missoula runner that spent time with Montana State, returned to Bozeman and had a career best race.

She had finished 7^th for Montana in her four previous appearances this year but was the third Grizzly across the line on Saturday with a time of 18:18.8. Wagner had finished 6^th on the Grizzly roster in the last two races but jumped up to 4^th on Saturday. They finished 52^nd and 53^rd overall in the race.

"Ashtyn Wagner coming off of a stress fracture and Malia Bradford coming back from basically a two-year injury, for them to crack the top five at this meet and run their personal bests for 5k was just tremendous effort for them and that really helped our women's team progress," Fraley said.

Olivia Coll, a sophomore, finished 59^th to fill the final scoring position for the Grizzlies. The women finished 9^th with 235 points.

Montana had surprise finishes on both sides. While there were some performances that weren't quite up to the standard set this season for some runners, other Grizzlies stepped up to take their place.

"You need that kind of depth and when somebody falls off you need someone to step up and pick up the slack," Fraley said. "We got that with both our men and our women today."

Northern Arizona won both the men's and women's team competitions with 16 points on the women's side and 20 on the men's as they were nearly perfect in Bozeman. Weber State finished 2^nd on both side and Montana State rounded out the top three in the men's and women's competitions.

Montana will return every runner on the men's side and four of the five points scorers on the women's side.

"That's the best part of it, we are very young and we made a lot of progress from last year to this year and that really bodes well for the future of our programs," Fraley said. "These athletes are really starting to believe that they can run at this level, run in this conference, and I think Coach Eckmann has done a really nice job of getting the right kids coming to UM that are not afraid to throw their hat in the ring and compete really hard."

MONTANA MEN'S RESULTS
1. Carson Steckelberg (24:54.8, 17^th)
2. Luke Mest (25:30.2, 30^th)
3. Zachary Giesch (25:36.9, 32^nd)
4. Lane Krautschun (25:59.2, 42^nd)
5. Henry Sund (26:00.6, 44^th)
6. Elliot Stimpson (26:13.5, 48^th)
7. Truman Thompson (27:02.3, 62^nd)
8. Albert Turner (27:18.7, 65^th)
9. Morgan Amano (27:36.1, 67^th)
10. Will Sandes (27:42.7, 69^th)

MONTANA WOMEN'S RESULTS
1. Heidi Olson (18:13.7, 50^th)
2. Kayla Ingraham (18:18.4, 51^st)
3. Malia Bradford (18:18.8, 52^nd)
4. Ashtyn Wagner (18:19.8, 53^rd)
5. Olivia Coll (18:27.9, 59^th)
6. Shay Pederson (18:29.9, 60^th)
7. Libby Hartz (18:43.9, 63^rd)
8. Lucy Thompson (19:57.0, 81^st)

MEN'S TEAM SCORES
1. Northern Arizona (20)
2. Weber State (58)
3. Montana State (76)
4. Idaho State (128)
5. Montana (146)
6. Idaho (170)
7. Eastern Washington (204)
8. Portland State (244)
9.Northern Colorado (247)
10. Sacramento State (255)

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES
1. Northern Arizona (16)
2. Weber State (80)
3. Montana State (83)
4. Idaho State (120)
5. Idaho (140)
6. Sacramento State (186)
7. Northern Colorado (186)
8. Eastern Washington (224)
9. Montana (235)
10. Portland State (243)