No headline
Bigfork grad Makena Morley, far right, and the Colorado women's cross country team celebrate after winning the Pac 12 Conference championship on Friday. (Gary Breedlove photo/University of Colorado)
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — Makena Morley finished 15th overall in 19:25.3 to help boost the Colorado women’s cross country team to its third-straight conference title, legging out Oregon for the Pac 12 championship on Friday.
Buffs junior Dani Jones won the race and Colorado placed all five scoring runners in the top 20, including three in the top 10.
Morley, a Bigfork grad, finished all-conference for the second straight year.
Oregon, ranked by some outlets as the top women’s team in the nation entering the race, finished tied for second with Stanford. Stanford sophomore Christina Aragon, a Billings Senior grad, finished 19th overall.
Colorado senior Zach Perrin, a Flathead grad, finished in 16th-place in 24:08.8 in the men’s race as the Buffs were edged by Stanford for the team title.
Missoula’s Adam Peterman finished in 12th place overall as Colorado’s fourth runner.
“Well honestly I think our men ran their best race of the year,” Colorado coach Mark Wetmore said.
“Guys like Adam Peterman, Zach Perrin are getting better by the week. We are smart and patient and ran really hard.”
The postseason will continue for the Buffs at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships, Nov. 10, in Logan, Utah.
Gonzaga men fourth
at WCC championships
OAKLAND, Calif. — Gonzaga sophomore Jake Perrin finished in 20th place at the West Coast Conference championships to help the Bulldogs to a fourth place team finish.
Perrin, a Flathead grad, finished in 24:25.65, the third fastest on the team.
BYU, the second-ranked team nationally, cruised to the men’s team title.
The Bulldogs run in the NCAA West Regionals on Nov. 10. The event returns to the Jefferson Golf Course in Seattle. The men’s race starts at 11:30 a.m. Live video and results will be available on GoZags.com.
Montana State women finish second at Big Sky championships
OGDEN, Utah — Montana State finished second to nationally-ranked Northern Arizona at the Big Sky conference championships.
The Bobcats placed four runners in the top 25 to finish second. Montana finished sixth as a team.
Northern Arizona also won the men’s title to complete the conference sweep for the second straight year. Montana State finished fifth and Montana 10th.
Valley runners
power Pueblo at RMAC championships
CHADRON, Neb. — The Colorado State-Pueblo men finished fourth and the women seventh at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships, driven by a field of runners from the Flathead Valley.
Sophomore Gillian Maness (Flathead) finished in 22:35.3 in 16th to earn all-conference honors while Nicole Bouma (Flathead) finished 70th.
Sophomore Logan Morley (Bigfork) finished 35th in 26:24.9 for the men and Ben Vaughan (Great Falls) was 48th for the ThunderWolves.
The ThunderWolves travel next to the NCAA Division II South Central Region Championships on Nov. 4 in Canyon, Texas. The top three finishing teams from each gender earn an automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA National Championships.