Northern harriers about to take off

It’s year three for head coach Chad Spangler and the Montana State University-Northern cross country team. And now just might be the time the Lights and Skylights shine.

Spangler has veteran runners on both the men’s and women’s teams this season, so he’s excited about the upcoming season. And on top of that, for the first time in the program’s young history, they will also host a meet right here in Havre.

“We’re really excited to host our first home meet during our Homecoming weekend,” Spangler said.  “We really hope fans will come out to Prairie Farms on the morning of Sept. 23rd and watch us race Central Wyoming College.”

And what fans will see is a very savvy, very experienced Northern squad.

On the women’s side, Northern returns sophomore Rachel David of Havre, it’s highest finisher at last year’s Frontier Conference championships. Former Blue Ponies Breck Don and McKenna Barkus are also returning seniors, as is Courtney Coda, while Havre’s Kaitlin Nystrom also returns from last year’s varsity team. Newcomers Ashley McCready and Havre’s Nicole Parsons round out the Northern lineup.

“Right now Rachel David and Ashley McCready (from Ronan) are really pushing the women’s team,” Spangler said. “They are both running very well and certainly have All-Conference potential this year. Rachel and Ashley will be important scorers for us this year, but they are also impact teammates because they are always pushing the training pace, and attitude — making everyone better.”

The Lights, too, have plenty of returning talent, led by senior Riley Dennis and red-shirt freshman Luke Karnauskas of Havre High. Rocky Boy’s Tristen Belgarde is also back, as is sophomore Beau Hyatt.

But the Lights have also added plenty of new runners to a roster that should be deep and strong this fall. Harley Dowling, Kai Krumwiede, Gabe Hallock and Amos Taisaw provide Northern with plenty of depth.

“On the men’s team, Luke Karnauskas, Kai Krumwiede (from Lewistown), Riley Dennis (from Ronan) and Amos Taiswa (from Kilgoris, Kenya) have been really consistent and productive so far,” Spangler noted. “These four guys are really running well together in training sessions. It’s difficult to predict how they’re going to compete in the ultra-competitive Frontier Conference, but it’s safe to say that we’re much stronger at this point compared to last season.”

The Frontier is tough, and so is Northern’s schedule. MSU-N opens the season at the Carroll College Early Bird Invitational, before traveling to NCAA Montana State for a meet. Then comes Northern’s first-ever home meet, followed by the Yellowjacket Open in Billings Oct. 7. MSU-N also travels to the LC State Invitational Oct. 14 and the University of Providence Open Oct. 20 before heading back to Lewiston, Idaho, for the 2017 Frontier Conference Championships Nov. 3.

“We’ve been at it for weeks now and I’m pretty excited about this year’s teams,” Spangler said. “The women have just been so solid in training camp so far — they’re just getting it done. They’ve been so consistent and just really into it. Many of the women are running their last season, so I think that’s a driver for some of them this year. On the guys side, we’re a little younger and we’ve had a little more inconsistency due to injuries. We’re working through that and the guys that have been consistent are looking great at this point in our training. I really think we can be in the mix by conference championships this year.”

Northern opens its season Thursday at the Carroll Earlybird Invitational.