MSU-N's Field Soosloff headed to NAIA nationals, again

A long season in the Frontier Conference for the Montana State University-Northern cross country teams came to an end this past Friday in Dillon. In the Frontier Conference Championships, the Lights and Skylights put their best foot forward as they tried to finish the season strong.

Both teams took fifth in the meet out of the six teams competing. While he was pleased with both team's efforts, MSU-N head coach Chad Spangler believes he and his runners could have strategized better for the higher altitude in Dillon.

"I expected a little bit more, honestly, on the men's side. I think we just went out a little too fast at that altitude and probably should have been a little bit more conservative with the starting pace," Spangler said. "The women's side is kind of what I expected. They were just dealing with too many injuries as a team and they just did the best they could so I'm pretty pleased with their effort."

The MSU-N men's team finished fifth in the meet with a score of 104. Carroll College won the meet with a score of 38. Montana Tech took second in the meet with a score of 70 and Rocky Mountain College placed third with a score of 75.

The highest place for the Lights came from Field Soosloff who took fifth in the meet with a time of 27:03.80. RMC runner Jackson Wilson took first with a time of 26:02.50. Michael Irvine took 19th for the Lights with a finish of 28:11.00. Brady Albus took 23rd with a time of 28:36.00 and Liam Baez-Terry finished 26th with a time of 28:54.70. Other Lights who placed at the meet include Jaden Koon in 31st, Eddie Harmon in 32nd and August Spottedwolf in 33rd.

The MSU-N women's team finished fifth in the meet with a score of 154. Carroll also won the women's meet with a score of 37. Tech took second with a score of 48 and RMC finished third with a score of 61.

Hannah Haslem had the best finish for the Skylights, taking 27th with a time of 22:18.70. RMC runner Sydney Little Light took first in the meet with a finish of 18:07.00. Tamero O'Leary took 29th for the Skylights as she recorded a time og 22:55.30. Other Skylights who placed include Grace Schwenk in 31st, Brooke Holland in 32nd and Kaylee Nystrom in 35th.

With his fifth-place finish in the men's meet, Soosloff earned all-conference honors and qualified for an at-large bid in the NAIA Nationals in Vancouver, Washington, later this month. As Soosloff prepares to compete against the best runners in the country, Spangler hopes his finish in Dillon can help.

"I think he can add to his confidence a little bit about the caliber of runner he is and I think he probably learned a little bit about some of the strategies he saw at the conference championships," Spangler said.

As Soosloff continues with his season, the rest of the Lights and Skylights now see their seasons come to an end. Both MSU-N cross country teams are young with three freshmen each on the men's and women's teams. With so many careers just beginning, Spangler hopes they learned from their first year in collegiate cross country.

"I think everybody learned a little bit more about strategy which becomes a little bit more important in collegiate cross country," Spangler said. "They learned a lot about pacing, different styles and different altitudes. We're a young team and that's what I was looking for them to learn."