The Idaho State cross country team opened the 2021 season at the Utah Valley Invitational on Friday at Lakeside Park in Orem, Utah.
On the men’s side, Zak Montoya finished third overall and second amongst collegiate runners with a time of 15:15.6.
Collin Dylla finished 14th and was the second Bengal runner to cross the finish line with a time of 15:44.6. Brandon Walker and Eric Christen were the next Bengal runners to cross the finish line.
“The men’s team is very thin this year but individually I was very impressed with Zak Montoya’s performance,” said Head Coach Nate Houle. “He’s been putting in massive numbers all summer running 120 miles/week and it showed today. I wanted a controlled effort, leaving something in the tank and so seeing him finish 3rd under those circumstances is encouraging.”
On the women’s side, Cassandra Vasquez finished ninth with a time of 18:55.9. Laura Alicke and Madi Kenyon were the next two runners to finish as Alicke finished with a time of 19:30.6 and Kenyon 19:36.2.
“It was a great debut by Cassandra Vasquez,” continued Houle. “I was really impressed with her fearlessness in this race. She has gone from running small high school races with COVID-limited field sizes to diving straight into a competitive D1 meet and didn’t skip a beat. I’m really excited for her future trajectory.”
We elected to sit a handful of our top women this weekend to preserve their legs for later in the season. We did quite well without them but I’m looking forward to having the entire group together in Bozeman in two weeks.”
Haven Lambrite, Sulette Ferreyra Serna, Laura Maccabee and Sophie Stubbs rounded out the top 40. Idaho State finished fourth out of five teams.
