Saturday's Regional Briefs

Billings Senior teams run to win in Butte

BUTTE – Teagan Olson of Great Falls High finished third in the boys’ race to highlight the efforts of Bison and C.M. Russell High Rustler athletes Saturday at the Butte Invitational cross country meet.

Teams from Billings Senior won the team titles, while individual winners were Annie Hill of Kalispell Glacier and Marshall Beatty of Missoula Sentinel. Those two standouts also won individual honors at the Great Falls Invitational 10 days ago.

In the boys’ competition, CMR finished seventh and GFH was 12th. Collin Buck of CMR was fifth, while teammate Cooper West finished seventh.

Trisha Carlson of CMR finished seventh in the girls’ race, while Laura Duffy of Great Falls High was 16th. The Russell and Bison girls finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the team race.

MSU volleyball team falls at N. Dakota

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Despite having four players with double-digit kills and junior outside hitter Loni Kreun with a match-best 16 kills, the Montana State volleyball team couldn’t hang on as North Dakota rallied for a 25-27, 25-21, 25-22, 25-19 win over the Bobcats in Big Sky Conference play.

Montana State fell to 3-9 overall and 1-3 in league play. North Dakota is 14-6 and 3-1.

“I thought it was a very well-played match on our part, which is what we are focusing on,” said first-year head coach JJ Riley. “The team did a great job with playing within the game plan so it shows they know what’s going on which is great. We love the way the team started in that match as we have been talking about being better at the beginning and we need to keep learning how to not give up some runs of points as that was the difference.”

Also in double-figure kills for MSU were Natalee Godfrey 15, while Kiana Black and Natalie Passeck added 1- apiece. Defensively, Kasey Altman led all players with a career-high 28 digs. Also in double-digit digs were Kreun 16, Dana Vestman 15, and Passeck 11. Senior setter Katie Harrington dished out 60 assists.

Bobcat teams win cross country meet

MISSOULA -- Montana State swept the field here Saturday at the University of Montana Invitational cross country meet, winning the men’s and women’s team titles at the UM Golf Course.

Four men and four women finished in the top 10 for the Bobcats with Alyssa Snyder and Matthew Gotta leading the way.

Sumner Goodwin, a former Washington runner now redshirting at Gonzaga, pulled away from teammate Casey Adams midway through the men’s race for a winning time of 24:50. Adams was second in 25:02.

Idaho’s Kinsey Gomez, a transfer from Oregon State, led the women’s race from start to finish, clocking a time of 17:11 to top the rest of the field by more than 45 seconds.

Running without star freshman Makena Morley, who is nursing a minor injury and taking a cautious approach leading up to NCAA Pre-Nationals in Louisville, Ky., in two weeks, the Montana women did not have anyone challenge for a top-10 finish.

Snyder, a Bobcat freshman from Coalville, Utah placed second overall, crossing the finish line in 17:59.22. MSU’s Chiara Warner can in shortly after Snyder, placing third with a time of 18:06.58 and Kaylee Schmitz finished in sixth place (18:18.06).

Gotta placed fourth overall, completing the 8K course in 25:29.10.

UM volleyball team falls at N. Colorado

GREELEY, Colo. -- Hannah Sackett matched a season-high with 24 kills and the Montana volleyball team hit .259, but it wasn’t enough to pick up a win Saturday afternoon against Northern Colorado in a Big Sky Conference match.

The Bears (6-11 overall, 2-2 BSC) hit .338 to win 25-19, 25-23, 25-27, 25-21, and keep the Grizzlies (4-12, 0-4 BSC) winless in league matches.

Northern Colorado had no answer for Sackett, who hit .321. Instead it used a more balanced attack to finish off a home sweep of Montana State -- the Bears swept the Bobcats in straight sets Thursday night -- and Montana.

For Montana, Kendra Cunningham had 16 kills, Kortney Lockey and Katie Champion both added 10, and Ashley Guthrie finished with nine kills on 11 swings to hit .818. Emily O’Neil added seven kills on .700 hitting and a team-high five blocks.

Senior middle blocker Capri Richardson had 12 kills on .417 hitting and five blocks for the Grizzlies. Freshman middle blocker Hailey Jackson, getting her first significant action of the season, added six kills on .308 hitting and five blocks.

“We’re still trying to get over the top in some of these close matches, and I think we’re getting closer,” said coach Brian Doyon. “It’s going to require some more fine-tuning here and there.”

Morning leader Krell maintains Willey lead

Steve Krell of Billings was the leader of the pack after Saturday’s qualifying rounds of the John Willey Memorial Open bowling tournament at Little’s Lanes.

Krell knocked down 1,941 pins in eight games during the morning shift, earning him a $50 bonus as the top morning qualifier. Dirk Thompson of Bozeman was second, 17 pins behind, followed by Jonathan Conger of Missoula and Bozeman keglers Brian Thomas and Monte Baker.

Four-time Willey champion Jack Guay of Calgary, the 2014 champ, was in 21st position after two rounds, and Steve Martin was the top Great Falls qualifier, in 13th Saturday evening. A total of 75 bowlers were entered, all shooting for a winner’s check worth $1,500.

Alex Hoskins of Pocatello has the tournament’s high game, a 289.

The top 32 bowlers will advance into Sunday’s match play round starting with practice at 8:15 and bowling at 8:30. After eight games, the top 16 will continue through another four position round games before the field is pared down to five bowlers for the TV-style stepladder finals.