MSU-N harriers finish first season

The first season of cross country came to an end for the Montana State University-Northern men and women this past week. The Lights and Skylights wrapped up their inaugural season in the Frontier Conference and NAIA cross country with the Frontier Conference Championships.

The meet was run last Friday in Great Falls, where both the Lights and Skylights finished last. Still, Northern, under head coach Chad Spangler, ran some of their best times of the season and showed marked improvement from the beginning of their first year as a cross country program to the end.

On the women’s side, former Havre Blue Pony McKenna Barkus was Northern’s top finisher, as she placed 25th overall with a time of 23:27.18. Amelia Clark was next, finishing in 23:42.53 for 28th place, while Courtney Cota earned a Top 30 finish with a time of 24:21.30. Breck Don placed 32nd overall (24:34.74) and Rachel Nelson was 33rd (25:05.50).

In the men’s race, Northern was paced by Will Ketchum, who finished 33rd with a time of 30:32.64. Tristen Belgarde was 34th for the Lights with a time of 30:37.27. Jamie Lieberg finished in 36th place with a time of 31:09.16, while Tristin Gone placed 37th (32:54.93), Alex Williams finished 38th (36:26.67) and Justin Seevers was 39th (37.13.08).

Former Havre Blue Pony Marc Klimas, who runs for UGF, placed 21st overall with a time of 28:45.90.

The Lewis-Clark State men captured the Frontier title with a score of 22 and the Carroll College women also won the conference championship with a score of 19.

The top teams and runners from the Frontier Championships advance to the NAIA National Championships Nov. 21 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Frontier Conference

Championships

Men's Team Scores

Lewis-Clark State 22, Carroll College 42, Great Falls 99, Rocky Mountain College 103, UM-Western 118, MSU-Northern 178.

Women's Team Scores

Carroll College 19, Lewis-Clark State 52, Great Falls 91, UM-Western 100, Rocky Mountain College 132, MSU-Northern 148.