MSUB women’s cross country set for conference championships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu October 23, 2015 MSUB women’s cross country set for conference championships

MSUB women’s cross country is racing in Washington at the GNAC Championships this Saturday.

MSUB Distance on Facebook MSUB Cross Country Stack on ISSUU GNAC Release GNAC Program Championship Central The MSU Billings women’s cross country team is set for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championship being hosted by Western Washington at a course on Lake Padden Park.

BILLINGS, Mont. – A much improved MSUB women’s cross country team is set to hit the championships course at Lake Padden Park on Saturday, Oct. 24 in Bellingham, Wash. The Yellowjackets have worked hard this season to be ready for the conference race, and each member has shown big strides from where they started.

“All of our runners have moved up this season,” MSUB head coach Dave Coppock said. “Rio Frame has been dealing with some injury issues, but looks ready for Saturday. Brielle Davis has been our most consistent runner. She and Rio will be able to help each on the course for the women.”

Frame finished in the top spot for MSUB during the opening races of the season in Alaska. Since then, the junior has struggled with some nagging injuries, but did finish second overall at the Yellowjacket Battlin’ Bears Dual last Thursday at Riverfront Park. Davis was just behind her on the course as MSUB swept four of the top-5 finishes.

Davis has two top-10 finishes this season, including a fourth place result at the Yellowjacket Invitational. She has been a driving force during much of the season and is looking for an improvement over her finish at last year’s conference championships.

“I think we will see a lot of PR’s from our women’s team this Saturday,” Frame said. “I have been really impressed with how hard our team has been working and I think they will do really well on the course this weekend.”

Last season, Frame finished 22nd at the conference championships. Taylor Condon and Jinise Trueblood were also in the top-5 finishers for MSUB and will be looking to bring their individual times and places down from last year.

Both Condon and Trueblood have moved up on the team with Condon placing third for MSUB at the Yellowjacket Invitational with Trueblood behind her at fourth. The two seniors along with Davis are the trio of runners racing for personal records and improved places at the conference meet.

Sophomore Bailey Bomar was fifth for MSUB at the Yellowjacket Invitational and fifth for the team at the Yellowjacket Battlin ‘Bears Dual last week.

Freshmen Sarah Beatty and Devin McDonald will round out the team competing this Saturday. McDonald and Beatty have been the six and seven runners in the last two races for MSUB. Last season, the MSUB women’s cross country team had its best performance in the program’s history. The ‘Jackets placed six overall in a crowded field where the top-3 were separated by single points.

Simon Fraser returns to the course the defending champions, but has some stiff competition from another crowded GNAC field. Alaska Anchorage is ranked No. 7 this week in the USTFCCCA Division II Coaches Poll, and returns five runners from last year’s team. Western Washington is just behind ranked No. 12 and has several team wins this season.

Seattle Pacific finished fifth at last year’s championships, but comes into Saturday’s race ranked No. 18 in the USTFCCCA Poll. MSU Billings saw SPU in the first two races of the season where the Falcons won both races led by wins from senior Anna Patti. The women’s individual title has several qualified contenders as the final 200 meters should be an exciting race to the line.

The GNAC will be providing live coverage of the meet this season through the outlet Periscope. Periscope is a social media app that allows people to live stream from their smartphone, but can also be viewed from a cell phone or on a regular computer.

The GNAC’s Periscope channel is https://www.periscope.tv/GNACsports. To find out when the stream will be live, fans can follow the GNACSports Twitter account for updates. The women’s championships are scheduled for an 10:00 a.m.

Pacific time start.

A listing of the full results plus a recap will be available at msubsports.com following the conclusion of the race.

--@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--