Griz close regular season at LC State Invitational

LC State Invitational / Saturday, Oct. 17
Women's 5k at 11 a.m. (MT) / Men's 8k at 12 p.m. (MT)

The final week of the regular season has arrived for the Montana cross country program as they travel to Lewiston, Idaho for the LC State Invitational. The Grizzlies will look to build some momentum before the Big Sky Championships at a venue that has proven to be very fast for Montana's runners in the past.

The meet will feature two additional D-I programs in Idaho and Gonzaga with some of the top lower-level programs in the northwest. There will be no live results available.

"This is one that every year our athletes look forward to from the time the schedule comes out in the summer," head coach Doug Fraley said. "We've traditionally had very, very fast times here and really good team efforts."

This history of success at this meet is real for Montana. Seven of Montana's women have run their fastest collegiate 5K times and six of the men on the roster have run their fastest 8K times at this event over the previous seasons.

It's the perfect tune-up for the Big Sky Championships in Flagstaff, Ariz. on Oct. 30.

"I think it's a combination of it being an excellent and fast, dedicated cross country course and it is also typically the last regular season meet before the conference championship" Fraley said. "You factor those two things in and it typically makes for great results for our squad."

It's been a terrific regular season for the men through the first four races, led by junior Luke Mest's efforts at the front. Mest has been the first Grizzly across the finish line in all four races and has been inside the top four overall in meets that have featured some of the best runners the region has to offer.

Mest is coming off a time of 23:48.1 to finish 3^rd overall at the Frank Knott Classic in Spokane two weeks ago. It was a lifetime best at the 8K distance for Mest. In the Cross Country Ratings Index (XCRI) from the USTFCCCA, Mest currently ranks as the 11^th best runner in the Big Sky. He ranks 3^rd among non-Northern Arizona runners.

The Grizzly men are ranked 6^th in the Big Sky and just outside the top 150 in the nation in the XCRI.
Lane Krautschun missed Montana's third race of the season but returned two weeks ago to record a top 20 finish at the Frank Knott Classic. He's been second on Montana's squad in all three meets that he's competed in this year.

Zachary Giesch also returned after missing the Montana Invite and was the third Grizzly across the line in Spokane. The additional week off should only help all of Montana's runners on both the men's and women's side get healthy.

"Everybody should be pretty rested and healthy following an off week," Fraley said. "We're really looking forward to going and giving a great effort with it being our last contest knowing we have the following weekend off before we head to Flagstaff."

The women have been led by Olivia Coll in all three meets that she has competed in. Coll ran a time of 22:18.1 at the 6K distance two weeks ago to finish 22^nd overall. Malia Bradford was right behind her just 2.9 seconds later to finish 23^rd.

Newcomer Quinn Nelson, a transfer from San Diego, was the third Grizzly across the line in Spokane. Nelson made her Montana debut in the event and ran a time of 22:26.7 for a top 30 finish.

The top five runners on the women's side were separated by just 40 seconds in Spokane as they ran well as a group and closed down the distance from 1 to 5. Mest was nearly a minute in front of the next Grizzly on the men's side, but runners 2-5 had just 27 seconds between them.

It has been a key for Fraley and distance coach AJ Eckmann to close down the distance between the top runner and the final scoring runner, and they executed on that strategy well in Spokane.

"Coach Eckmann always has his athletes working on good race strategies to try to shrink that time gap, so I would expect that our squads will do a good job with that again this week just like they did in the last contest," Fraley said.

This will be the final chance for Montana's runners to make their case that they should be on the trip to Flagstaff in two weeks for the Big Sky Conference Championship. One last chance to post a time, and it comes on a fast course with plenty of history of success for Montana.

"We will evaluate after this contest to finalize our Big Sky rosters," Fraley said. "There is a tremendous amount to run for this weekend for all of our athletes. We're always looking to shrink that time gap between number one and number five and have that depth that can be interchangeable as we head to the conference championship."

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Malia Bradford

Olivia Coll

Zachary Giesch

Lane Krautschun

Luke Mest

University of Montana Athletics