September 8, 2007

Lady Jackets Run Second in S.D.
Women's Results
Men's Results

RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Montana State Billings women’s cross country team swept places 8-14 to finish second at the South Dakota School of Mines Invitational on Saturday.  Freshman Diana Stanley (Miles City) placed eighth to lead MSUB.  The Jacket men placed third in the three-team men’s race, but Jarred Rensvold (Wolf Point) notched a top 10 finish by placing seventh.

Dianna Stanley

The races were the first of the season for both Yellowjacket teams.  Stanley covered the 5K course in 21:59.  She was one of six Yellowjackets running in a collegiate competition for the first time, and the youth movement carried the day for MSUB.  Freshmen claimed the Jackets’ top four spots.  Behind Stanley were Mykel Ler (Sidney) in ninth place with a time of 22:11, Katie Thiel (Powell, Wyo.) in 10th with a time of 22:18, and Morgan Streeter (Ryegate) in 11th with a 22:19.  Cierra Dornfeld (Woodbury, Minn.) rounded out the Yellowjackets’ scoring with a 12th place finish in 22:36. 

Also competing for the Lady Jackets were Colleen Dalimata (Columbia Falls) in 13th with a 22:39, Malori Woodford (Mosby) in 14th with a 22:39, Sarah Jackson (Bozeman) in 20th with a 23:12, Kym Island (Columbia Falls) in 23rd with a 23:39, Erin Mueller (Billings) in 26th with a 24:25, and Erin Gannon (Yankton, S.D.) in 28th in 25:00.

Black Hills State claimed the women’s race with 17 points, followed by MSUB with 50, South Dakota School of Mines with 74, and Rocky Mountain College with 103.  Black Hills State’s Kerry Washburn took home top individual honors with a time of 19:23.  BHSU swept the top four spots.

In the men’s race, Rensvold was the only Yellowjacket in the top 10.  He finished the 8K course in 28:33.  Rensvold is the Jackets’ only returning runner from last season.  Ryan Ceynar (Glendive) placed 15th in 29:04, Kelley Miller (Glendive) placed 25th in 31:15, James Hopkins (Helena) placed 29th in 35:25, and Joe Houghton (Billings) placed 30th in 37:20.

Black Hills State won the men’s team race with 15 points.  South Dakota Mines finished second with 58 points followed by the Yellowjackets with 66.  Rocky Mountain competed with three runners so did not factor into the team standings.  Allen Wood of BHSU won top individual honors in a time of 26:18, and the Yellow Jackets claimed 11 of the top 12 spots.  Rensvold was the only non-Black Hills runner in the top 12.

"The women's team did really well," said Yellowjacket head coach Dave Coppock.  "That's probably the best showing I've ever had at this meet with seven runners within 40 seconds of each other.  Since Black Hills is ranked fourth in the nation we were pretty happy there.  On the guy's side, Jarred Rensvold ran really well.  That's probably the best performance I've had from one of our guys out there.  He broke up a big block of Black Hills runners.  Ryan Ceynar also did well as a freshman.  That's a pretty good time on that course."

Both MSU Billings teams will run at the MSU Bozeman Invitational next Saturday, Sept. 15.