MSU-N runners race in Billings

The Montana State University-Northern cross country teams raced in their second meet of the 2016 season, and the Lights and Skylights did so against stiff competition.

Last Friday, Northern was in Billings for the Yellowjacket Invitational, hosted by Montana State-Billings. And the field was composed mostly of NCAA Division II runners, so the competition was fierce.

On the men’s side, the Lights finished fifth out of six teams with a score of 153. Beau Hyatt led the way for MSU-N with a 36th-place finish (36:06.3).

From there, Northern’s pack time was close as Riley Dennis ran a 37:41 (43rd), Tristen Belgarde finished in 38:34 (45th), Curtis Westenskow ran a 38:38 (46th) and Sundance Lodge finished in 41:35 (51st). Northern also got a 44:06 by Justin Seevers (52nd) and a 46:27 from Patrick Yuhas (53rd), while freshman Luke Karnauskas, running unattached, finished in 37th place with a 36:16.

In the women’s 6K race, the Skylights finished sixth with a 182 score. Northern freshman Rachel David was again impressive, placing 28th overall with a time of 26:00. Courtney Cota came in 40th (29:05), Mackenna Barkus placed 42nd (28:23), Kaitlyn Nystrom finished 44th (29:53), Breck Don placed 45th (30:11) and Savanna Rose finished 47th (33:19) to round out the scoring for the Skylights.

Next up for Northern is a dual with Central Wyoming College Oct. 7. MSU-N will then travel to the UGF Invitational Oct. 21, and close out the season with the Frontier Conference championships Nov. 4 in Helena. The top men's and women's teams from the Frontier advance to the NAIA national championships later in November.