Northern cross country ready for MSU-Northern Dual at home

The Montana State University-Northern cross country teams continued their seasons this past Saturday when they competed at the Inland Empire Meet in Lewiston, Idaho. At the meet, the Lights and Skylights ran great against several other teams. At the end of Friday, the MSU-N men's team had placed 13th and the MSU-N women's team had placed 14th.

The Lights took 13th with a score of 350 and total time of 2:19:45. Gonzaga won the men's meet with a score of 35 and total time of 2:03.13. Idaho took second with a score of 42 and Lewis-Clark finished third. MSU-N was not the only Frontier Conference school at the meet as Eastern Oregon took fourth, Rocky Mountain College took ninth, Carroll College took 10th, Montana Tech took 12th and Montana Western finished 14th.

Over a hundred runners ran in the men's 8K. Idaho's Tim Stevens won the meet with a time of 24:17.0. Field Soosloff had the best finish for the Lights as he took 27th with a time of 25:48 which was a personal record for him. Liam Baez-Terry took 68th with a time of 27:21 and Brady Albus placed 75th with a time of 27:53.

"I feel like our one through three runners performed very well," MSU-N head coach Chad Spangler said about the men's team's performance.

The Skylights took 14th in their meet with a score of 391 and a total time of 1:48:24. Idaho won the women's meet with a score of 19 and total time of 1:26:51. Gonzaga took second with a score of 92 and Boise State placed third with a score of 97. In the women's meet, Tech finished fifth, Carroll finished sixth, RMC finished seventh, Western finished 11th and EOU finished 12th.

In the women's 5K, over a hundred runners competed. Idaho's Kelsey Swanson won the meet with a time of 17:06.0. Allison Tigert had the best finish for the Skylights as she placed 56th with a time of 19:43. Grace Schwenk took 75th with a time of 20:34.

"Really happy with our one and two efforts," Spangler said about the women's team. "Our three through five are still freshmen and they just have a little bit further to go. A lot of it at this point is just their mindset. I think with them, they still got a lot of opportunity to improve there."

While the course in Lewiston was flat, the MSU-N runners did have to overcome the tight turns of the course as they ran through it.

"The drawback is that it's got a lot of tight corners. Lots of angles," Spangler said. "It's kind of a smart runners race with all the curves."

The MSU-N cross country teams will next come back home for the MSU-Northern Dual this Friday. At the meet, the Lights and Skylights will run against fellow Frontier Conference school University of Providence. Dawson Community College and Yellowstone Christian College will also have runners compete at the meet. With such a small meet, Spangler wants his team to focus on using this weekend to keep themselves in form before the Frontier Conference Championships in Dillon next month.

"I just really want them to stay in shape without adding much more stress," Spangler said. "It's really just to keep them competitive, keep them sharp but without having to travel and go through all the stress that comes with that."

The meet will be held at Prairie Farms Golf Course in Havre. With this meet being the only meet of the season at home, the Lights and Skylights look forward to running in front of their fans.

"They're pretty excited. We got to race here twice last year so that was really nice," Spangler said. "Just the opportunity to not have to travel. To sleep in a little bit and eat normal food and stuff like that going into the race is always helpful. Gives you a little more confidence."

The MSU-Northern Dual will be held at Prairie Farms Golf Course Friday and will start at 1 p.m.

Inland Empire Meet

Men's Individuals

Field Soosloff, 27th, 25:46.0; Liam Baez-Terry, 68th, 27:19.0; Brady Albus, 75th, 27:51.0; Jaden Koon, 89th, 29:22.0; Michael Irvine, 91st, 29:27.0; Eddie Harmon, 98th, 31:11.0; August SpottedWolf, 99th, 32:38.0.

Women's Individuals

Allison Tigert, 56th, 19:41.0; Grace Schwenke, 75th, 20:32.0; Tamera O'Leary, 85th, 21:39.0; Brooke Holland, 87th, 23:03.0; Hannah Haslem, 88th, 23:29.0.