MSU-N harriers turn in good times at loaded University of Montana Invite

Cross country meets in the Pacific Northwest don’t get much bigger than the one the Montana State University-Northern Lights and Skylights ran in last Friday.

Northern was in Missoula for the annual University of Montana Invitational, which featured NCAA Division I teams like the host Grizzlies, the Montana State Bobcats, Eastern Washington, Santa Clara, the University of Idaho, Gonzaga, and many others. A lot of NCAA DII schools were also in attendance, as were many schools from the Frontier Conference.

As expected, the races were highly competitive. On the women’s side, the Skylights scored a 338 to finish in 12th place overall. Rachel David paced the Skylights with an outstanding 48th-place finish. David crossed the finish line in 20:22.60. Kaylee Nystrom finished 67th for Northern with a time of 21:23.90, while Carlee Brown placed 68th with a 21:29.70.

The Northern women also saw Raini Johnson placed 74th, Kaitlin Nystrom finish 81st, Grace Schwenk place 82nd and Chloe Overlie place 85th.

In the men’s 8K race, the Lights finished with a score of 302 to place 11th. Isiah Runs Above once again paced the Lights with a 54th-place finish at 28:28. Northern ran a very strong pack time as well with Beau Hyatt in 59th (28:54.60), Luke Karnauskas in 62nd (29:03.60), Amos Taisaw in 63rd (29:06.20), Field Soosloff in 64th (29:16. 30), Kai Krumwiede in 66th (29:26.80) and Liam Baez-Terry in 67th (29:31.00).

Northern will have this week off before heading to Lewiston, Idaho, for the Lewis-Clark State Invitational Oct. 13.

Meanwhile, last weekend also saw the Northern rodeo team wrap up the fall season with the UM-Western Rodeo in Dillon. The Northern men finished in fifth place in the two-night rodeo. Shane Bird Rattler had a big weekend for the Lights with a third-place finish in saddle bronc. George Marcenko placed fifth in tie-down roping. Tucker Hould added a fifth in team roping for the Lights as well.

The Skylights placed sixth in the rodeo, led by Jayne Keeley, who had a great time in the goat-tying, finishing second. Tiana Gomes placed sixth in the breakaway roping.

The Northern rodeo teams will resume the Big Sky Region schedule in April.