BUTTE, Mont. – The first ever cross country meet was held by Montana Tech at the Highland View Golf Course. The Orediggers took the top individual places at the first Tony Banovich Invitational.
Butte native Hailey Nielson won the women’s race and Edwin Kipainoi took the top place in the men’s field.
Carroll College finished first in the team scoring in both women’s and men’s races. The Oredigger women finished in second with a score of 37 behind the Saints 24.
The men took third behind the Saints and Montana Western. The Orediggers were just two points behind the Bulldogs scoring 47 to their 45 with the Saints finishing with a score of 33.
The Oredigger women took first with Nielson’s finish with a time of 18:44.2 and Carlin Manning finished in third with a time of 19:25.3. But the Saints had six runners in the top 10.
Abbey Hoffman finished in 13th with a time 20:35.8. Alyssa Jany finished in 16th with a time of 20:48.1. Madison Kelly was the last Oredigger to score in 19th with a time of 21:29.9.
Kipainoi finished the 8k race with a time of 25:25.05. Justin Morgan took third with a time of 26:16.3.
Carroll’s top runner finished in fourth, but they had five in the top 10.
Benjamin Zerr finished in 12th with a time of 26:57.0 and Aidan Vlastay in 13th 27:02.3. Derek Schultz finished in 18th with a time of 27:40.0 and Connor Aikins took 19 with a time of 27:47.8.
The next race for the Orediggers is in Grand Rapids, Michigan on at the Great Lakes Challenge at River Park.
