Northern Arizona is once again Big Sky cross country champions. The Lumberjack women won their fifth-straight title while the men won their third.
The snow and steep hill at the Montana Golf Course in Missoula didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the Lumberjacks. They dominated in both the men’s and women’s races.
Junior Nico Young ran a 22:49.8 8k to lead the men while junior Elise Stearns returned to her hometown and ran a 16:21.10 6k. NAU dominated the top-ten in the women’s race as they filled the top seven. The men also had seven runners in the top 10, but redshirt junior Ben Perrin and senior Matthew Richtman for Montana State interrupted the flow with their third and sixth place finishes.
For the men, MSU finished in second with its five counted runners all finishing in the top 20. Weber State finished in third, with four of its five in the top 20. Junior Peter Visser finished in seventh to lead the Wildcats.
Idaho came out with a fourth-place finish, with four of its top five crossing the finish line within three seconds of each other. Senior Sam Fulbright crossed at 25:02.2, only .6 seconds ahead of Senior Lorenz Herrmann. Graduate student Tim Stevens came in right behind them with a time of 25:03.2 while senior Shea Mattson was the fourth Vandal with a time of 25:05.4. Junior Shane Gard was the final finisher for Idaho with a 35th place time of 25:30.2.
On the women’s side, it wasn’t even close. Northern Arizona ran out with 15 points while second place MSU landed with 57. The split from second to third was even higher as Weber State finished with 107 points. Idaho was two spots away from third as it finished with 109 points.
Junior Katja Pattis was the first Vandal across with an eighth-place time of 17:15.9. It would be a while before another Vandal crossed as sophomore Abigail Thomas ran an 18:19.3 for 25th and senior Leah Holmgren finished at 26th with a time of 18:21.10. Freshman Constanze Paoli took 28th, crossing at 18:25.20, and freshman McKenna Kozeluh rounded out the Vandals’ five at 30th with a time of 18:26.9.
The top-10 runners from both the men and women’s races are selected as all-conference runners. Pattis is the only Vandal to receive the honor this season. This is the second time she has been named an all-conference runner. She earned her first after a 16:55.9 finish as a freshman.
James Taurman-Aldrich can be reached at [email protected] or on X @jamesaldrich25