Missoula, Montana – Idaho State cross country traveled to the Montana Invite this weekend, competing against a majority of their Big Sky rivals. The Bengals turned in strong performances on both sides, highlighted by the Women's fourth place team finish, along with the Men coming up fifth in a more competitive meet than the year prior.
Allie Lemons continued her strong start to the season, finishing 11th overall in 18:51 and starting off the scoring for the Bengals. She was joined by teammate
Natalya Babcock who finished strong in 19:06, with a solid 16th place.
Kamber Scott also bounced back after not competing at the previous meet, as she came in 22nd with a time of 19:28.4. Sophomore
Elise Wright and junior
Ava Berg and rounded out the scoring for the women's team with placements of 31st and 32nd (19:58, 20:01) Their fourth place finish ahead of hosts Montana showed that they stack up well against Big Sky rivals and can compete as they head towards the end of the season.
The men also made up ground from the previous meet, as they finished fifth overall, just coming in behind Eastern Washington and showing that they have a tight grouping of scorers that can only improve from here. Freshman
Champ Ransom made a name for himself this meet, as he led the entire team over 8k, finishing 17th in 25:40.1 with junior
Jackson Koontz finishing right behind in 25:40.8. Junior
Sam Jeppsen also finished well in 31st, running 26:05.4 and helping the Bengals grouping. Senior
George Karamitsos and another junior in
Brent Clark rounded out the scoring five with times of 26:39 and 26:31. The men showed considerable improvement compared to the USU Alumni race and look ahead to the home meet.
With the second meet of the season under the team's belts, the Bengal squad now looks ahead to their home meet, the Bengal Invitiational, in two weeks time on the Centennial Cross Country Course in Pocatello on October 2nd.
