Northern Arizona sweeps team championships for 16th time in conference history, with men capturing fourth consecutive crown and women securing third title in four years; Noe becomes first Montana State female athlete since 1992 to earn victory

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

With most of their fellow competitors contemplating how they were going to navigate the challenging terrain and unpredictable footing on a snow-covered Boomerang Links Golf Course, freshmen Camila Noe and Drew Bosley were more than prepared for their first Big Sky Conference championship meet Saturday, thanks to the comforts of home.

Northern Arizona’s Bosley, a Homestead WI graduate, and Montana State’s Noe – a standout at nearby Bozeman MT – relied on past experiences to both thrive on the icy course and pull away from the competition, capturing the individual titles in their conference finals debuts in Greeley, Colo.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

Despite a late fall in the men’s 8-kilometer race, Bosley still had more than enough cushion to prevail in 26 minutes, 50.8 seconds, with teammates Geordie Beamish (26:55.7) and Brodey Hasty (26:56.2) finishing second and third.

Noe took the lead from the opening gun and never relinquished control, dominating the 5-kilometer competition to triumph in 17:41.3, achieving a 34-second margin of victory over Northern Arizona’s Mikayla Malaspina (18:15.3) and Southern Utah’s Alison Pray (18:15.9).

Noe became the first Montana State female athlete since Jennifer Cleary in 1992 to capture the Big Sky individual title and only the third winner in program history, also joining back-to-back champion Annette Hand, who secured a pair of Mountain West Conference crowns in 1984-85.

Bosley became the fourth Northern Arizona male athlete in as many years and 28th overall to win the individual championship, following Futsum Zienasellassie in 2016, Tyler Day in 2017 and Matthew Baxter last season.

Bosley, Beamish and Hasty were supported by Ryan Raff (27:06.2) in sixth and Jack Shea (27:26.6) in 12th for the Lumberjacks, who also won a fourth consecutive team title and the 29th in program history with a 24-40 victory over Weber State, with Montana State placing third with 74 points.

The performance by Northern Arizona was even more impressive considering junior Luis Grijalva and freshman Abdihamid Nur were home training in Flagstaff and another freshman Theo Quax finished 18th after running with the leaders for the first half of the race.

Despite Noe’s efforts, Northern Arizona had too much depth in the women’s race, placing all five scorers in the top 14 for a 36-90 victory over Idaho, with last year’s winner Southern Utah taking third with 93 points and Weber State finishing fourth with 94 points.

Pipi Eitel (18:21.3) and Taryn O’Neill (18:21.9) were fifth and sixth for Northern Arizona, with Miranda Myers (18:36.4) securing ninth and Bryn Morley (18:57.1) placing 14th for the Lumberjacks, who captured their third team title in four years and 21st overall in program history.

Since the Northern Arizona women joined the Big Sky in 1988, it marked the 16th time in program history the Lumberjacks swept both conference team titles in the same season.

Lexie Thompson (18:19.8) and Abby Lawrence (18:22.2) were fourth and seventh for Weber State, with Madison Fruchey (18:44.1) placing 11th in support of Pray for Southern Utah.

Although freshman Kelsey Swenson (18:53.5) was the top finisher for Idaho in 13th place, the Vandals had all five scorers in the top 25 to edge Southern Utah and Weber State for second.

June Eastwood, the first male to female transgender athlete to compete in NCAA Division 1 cross country, finished eighth in 18:25.7 for Montana, with Beatrix Frissell (18:39.7) taking 10th for the sixth-place Grizzlies, who had 137 points.

In addition to Northern Arizona’s pack in the men’s race, Weber State and Montana State both placed three athletes in the top 10.

Taylor Dillon (26:58), Jordan Cross (27:04.8) and Christian Allen (27:09.6) were fourth, fifth and seventh for Weber State, with Collin Buck (27:10.8), Ty Mogan (27:14.7) and Duncan Hamilton (27:16.9) placing eighth, ninth and 10th for Montana State.