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Cross Country Braves Freezing Weather, Turns in Top Times of Season

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BILLINGS, Mont. – The weather was cold by the competition heated up at the Yellowjacket Invitational held at Riverfront Park on Saturday morning. The Montana State Billings cross country team got some of its top times from this season despite the freezing cold weather and turned in great team finishes as well.

The MSUB women received seven personal best performances and all seven scoring runners finished the 3.1 mile course in less than 20 minutes. Lisa Minnehan once again led the Yellowjackets, finishing fourth overall in a time of 18:50, 48 seconds behind the winner, Wendy O’Lexey, from Black Hills State.

“The women once again made a lot of progress this week,” said head coach Dave Coppock. “We’re still setting up nicely for the conference meet in a few weeks. We’ve ran for six consecutive weekends, so having the off week next weekend should help us heading into that race. I was extremely happy with the way the girls ran; to get seven personal bests in this weather was extraordinary. I think we’re peaking at the right time and we may be able to sneak up on a couple of teams.”

Joining Minnehan in the top-10 were teammates Mary Owen and Leah Thompson. Owen finished ninth with a 19:19 and Thompson was right behind her in tenth with a 19:20. Following closely were Mykel Ler (19:32) and Sarah Jackson (19:43) who recorded top-15 finishes, while Katie Thiel took 18th with a 19:55 and Kristen Yeley finished 20th in a time of 19:59.

The women’s race was won by O’lexey in a time of 18:02, finishing just behind her was Amber Watson of Rocky Mountain College with an 18:08. O’lexey’s teammate, Erin Curran, finished just ahead of Minnehan in third with a time of 18:33, while Leigh Anne Whiteside of BHSU rounded out the top-five with a 19:08.

With its five top runners finishing in the top-15, MSUB captured second in the team race, recording 47 points, just 13 points behind Black Hills State (34). The University of Great Falls finished third (98) in the team standings, followed by Carroll College (99), Dickinson State (113), Rocky Mountain College (130), South Dakota Tech (180) and Flathead Valley (240).

On the men’s side, MSUB finished fourth in the team standings with 118 points. Daniel Lombardi led the Yellowjackets with 14th place finish and a time of 26:38. He was joined in the top-20 by Mark Bolt who completed the frozen course in a time of 26:49.

“We had a great performance from our men once again and saw a few personal bests from them as well,” Coppock said. “After running on a couple of tough courses, I think the men were ready to run some fast times on a flatter course. If they run like this at the conference meet, they could sneak in a really great finish.”
Tyson Vanderby was the third Yellowjacket to cross the line, recording a time of 27:11 for a 29th place finish overall. He was followed by Taylor Canfield (27:11), Travis Hutchinson (27:41), Travis Buttelman (27:58) and Tucker Shuler (28:54).

In a very exciting men’s race, Mark Mazza of Black Hills State edged teammate Birch Haraden for the victory. Mazza crossed the line in a time of 25:27 with Haraden finishing in 25:29. Jed Morgan of BHSU was third (25:33), while Cullen Cantwell of Great Falls finished fourth (25:34) and Sammy Chavez of Dickinson rounded out the top-five with a 25:58.

Black Hills took the team title in the men’s race as well, finishing with 27 points, ahead of Great Falls (71), Dickinson St. (96), MSUB, South Dakota Tech (120), Rocky (133), Carroll (146) and Flathead Valley (245).

The morning began with an open 5K for the public. The race saw close to 100 participants turn out for the 9 a.m. start.