Baylor’s Montoya Leads Women To Fifth At Notre Dame Invitational

Senior Maggie Montoya’s fourth-place individual finish helped the Baylor's women's cross country team take fifth overall at the Notre Dame Invitational Friday at Burke Golf Course.

The Rogers, Ark., product was BU’s top runner for her third-straight race and completed the 5,000-meter course in 16:28.4. Newcomer Lindsey Bradley, who was running in her first race of the fall placed 11th with a time of 16:40.5.

Next to cross the finish line for the Bears was Peyton Thomas (22nd, 16:47.9), while Anna West was 38th in 16:59.8. Baylor’s final scoring runner was Gabby Satterlee, who 95th in a time of 17:41.3.

The five-runner total score of 169 was just three behind third-ranked New Mexico’s 166 point total for fourth and two points ahead of No. 28 Utah’s 171 points for sixth.

As a team the Bears were fourth at one mile into the race and tied for third with 1,000 meters to go, but Eastern Michigan closed strong to get into the top three and push Baylor to fifth. However, BU’s top-four runner total of 75 was 12 points better than winner and No. 1 ranked team Providence (87). 

Meanwhile, the men’s team was 19th with Eric Anderson (77th, 24:43.5) and Devin Meyrer (79th, 24:44.7) leading the Bears over the file-mile course. Matt League was next to finish with a time of 25:06.0 to be 118th, while Matt Parham (147th, 25:29.9) and Jordan West (156th, 25:34.4) were the final two scoring runners for BU.

HIGHLIGHTS
• The women who weren’t even receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA poll beat several ranked foes including Notre Dame (No. 16), Vanderbilt (No. 24) and Utah (No. 28).
• Other women’s racers included Kathryn Foreman (132nd, 18:04.8), Alex Davis (149th, 18:14.8), Aaliyah Miller (162nd, 18:28.9) and Hana Marsheck (176th, 18:47.9).
• Other men’s finishers included Jeff Kirwin (172nd, 25:44.9), Matt Henderson (182nd, 26:08.4), Henry Huff (183rd, 26:08.8) and Sean McCullough (190th, 26:22.8).

TOP QUOTE #1
"It was definitely a coming out party for us. We didn’t surprise ourselves. It was kind of what we expected, but the girls still had to go out and do it. It wasn’t a perfect day, but it was very good overall. Maggie looked super and Lindsey in her first race was really good. Peyton was really strong and Anna was excellent in her first big race with a PR." -- head coach Todd Harbour on the women's team

WHAT'S NEXT
The men’s and women’s teams will have next weekend off before returning to action at the Wisconsin Invitational (Oct. 14) for the women and the Pre-National Invitational (Oct. 15) for the men.