Former Olympian, cross country teams aim for titles

The Montana Cross Country teams ushered in a new era last weekend at its season opening camp at Lubrecht Forest east of Missoula.

Courtney Babcock was there as the team’s new coach after Tom Raunig resigned last spring after 12 seasons.

“It’s a huge task,” Babcock said. “He has a great legacy. But I think it’s an exciting challenge.”

Montana scrambled to find a coach all summer and finally landed Babcock in August. The Ontario native has no coaching experience, but brings impressive running credentials to the program. She starred at the University of Michigan in the mid-’90s and was part of a national championship distance medley relay team during the 1994 indoor season.

She also competed for Canada in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Now, she becomes the first new head coach in more than a decade, and will oversee the track program as well.

“It was a really stressful summer because we didn’t know who our coach was going to be,” senior Allie Brosh said. “She is exactly what we need at exactly the right time.”

The UM women were picked third and the men fourth in preseason coaches’ polls released Friday. Northern Arizona and Weber State were picked as the top two teams in both polls, reflecting their respective finishes at the Big Sky Conference Championships last season.

The women return their top five finishers from last year, including sophomore Katrina Drennen, who wrapped up an all-conference campaign with a sixth place finish at the BSC championships. Fellow sophomores Bridgette Hoenke and Kesslee Payne also return, as do the program’s top juniors Brooke Andrus and Kara Dewalt, who placed 12th and 17th respectively in the championships. However, Babcock said Tuesday that Andrus and Dewalt will redshirt this year. 

Brosh, a three-year All-Big Sky performer redshirted in 2007, returns to the fold this season, as does junior Kim Tritz, who was Montana’s second place runner at the 2005 BSC championships. Tritz also redshirted in 2007.

“We have a lot of talent and Courtney can develop that talent,” Brosh said.

While the men may be flying under the radar with a projected fourth place finish in the preseason poll, Babcock said she thinks the team is only getting better.

There are 14 members back from last season’s squad, including seniors Eli Hermann-Willis and Dan Bingham, who finished 23rd and 27th at last year’s conference championships. Also returning are juniors Steven Gimpel and Michael Fisher, Montana’s No. 3 and No. 4 runners in the postseason.

“I think we have the best group of guys since I have been here,” said Bingham, a fifth-year senior. “We’re a very close-knit team. We’re all out there rooting for each other, wanting each other to do well.”

Both teams will open their seasons at the Montana State Invitational Sept. 20 in Bozeman. The Bobcat women were picked to finish fourth in the preseason, while the men were chosen to finish third.

Babcock said that following a successful training camp at Lubrecht Forest, the Griz are ready to take off with lofty goals in 2008.

“Our goal is to win the Big Sky,” she said. “You (have) got to have high expectations.”

“We’re not going to accept third,” Brosh added. “We feel we can win, and Courtney feels we can win, so we’re going to work together to achieve that.”

roman.stubbs@umontana.edu