-By Nick Bowsher
The Montana Tech Cross Country teams will host their first meet ever this Friday. The Tony Banovich Invitational is the first meet in Butte for the Oredigger teams who are running in their third season as a program.
The meet is named after Butte native and Montana Tech alumni Tony Banovich. Tony was a staple in the Montana running community for over 30 years before his passing in 2020.
“We are beyond excited to be hosting our first home meet,” said head cross country coach Zach Kughn.
The Tony Banovich Invitational will take place at Highland View Golf Course. The women’s 5k race will start at 11:30 a.m. and the men’s 8k race takes place at noon.
All of the Frontier Conference teams except Rocky Mountain will be participating in the meet that is part of the Frontier Conference schedule. Cascade Collegiate Conference member Walla Walla University will also run in the meet.
“Highland View is a fantastic course. We watched the high school meet held there last weekend and ran on the course and I know that got everyone even more excited. We are hopeful the Butte and Montana Tech communities can come out and support us. Cross Country is a great spectator sport, the whole meet will only take one hour to see everything.”
Spectators are welcome and attendance is free for the event. The Oredigger will not host another cross country meet until 2025.
