Hartpence, Piplica Pace Jacket Runners (9/17/05)

BOZEMAN, MT – Sam Hartpence and Tiffany Piplica were the top individual finishers for the Montana State-Billings cross-country teams Saturday at the Montana State-Bozeman Invitational.  The Yellowjackets were running in Bozeman after Friday’s meet at Dickinson State was cancelled.

Hartpence (Jr., Custer, SD) covered the five mile course in 28:28 to finish in 42^nd place.  His time was nearly two minutes faster than last week’s time at South Dakota Tech.  The Jackets again ran just five runners in the race.  The MSU Billings scoring runners were rounded out by Matt Roseberry (So., Chinook, MT) in 48^th place in 29:20, Joe Kragt (Jr., Worden, MT) in 54^th place in 29:50, Jared Rensvold (So., Wolf Point, MT) in 56^th place in 30:12, and Andy Zoeller (So., Billings, MT) in 60^th place in 33:17.

The Yellowjackets placed sixth in the seven-team race.  Utah State captured the team title followed by Idaho State and Utah Valley State.  Utah State’s Trever Ball took top individual honors in a time of 24:35.

Piplica (Jr., Riverton, WY) made a significant improvement over last week’s result to lead the Lady Jackets.  Just the fourth-fastest on the team last week in Rapid City, Piplica finished Saturday’s three mile race in 20:26 to place 46^th.  She was followed by Susan Kocab (Fr., Billings, MT) in 49^th place in 20:46, Cierra Dornfeld (Fr., Woodbury, MN) in 51^st place in 20:54, Kristy Burns (Jr., Livingston, MT) in 58^th place in 21:17, and Tracie Overberg (Sr., Dodson, MT) in 67^th place in 21:47.  Also racing for the Lady Jackets Saturday were Kym Island (Fr., Columbia Falls, MT) in 69^th place in 22:09, Kisa Kron (So., Livingston, MT) in 72^nd place in 22:31, and Erin Gannon (Fr., Yankton, SD) in 76^th place in 23:02.

Utah State also won the women’s team race followed by Montana State-Bozeman and Idaho State.  The Yellowjackets finished seventh in the eight team race.  Utah State’s Tiffany Strickland won the individual race in a time of 17:16.

The Yellowjackets are idle next week.  They next race on October 1 at the Rocky Mountain Shootout in Boulder, CO.

MSU Billings Men Individuals
42. Sam Hartpence, 28:28
48. Matt Roseberry, 29:20
54. Joe Kragt, 29:50
56. Jared Rensvold, 30:12
59. Abram Hagstrom, 33:17
60. Andy Zoeller, 33:17

Men Team Results
1. Utah State, 29
2. Idaho State, 54
3. Utah Valley State, 57
4. Montana State-Bozeman, 91
5. Zpt Team, 171
6. Montana State-Billings, 182
7. Westminster College, 185

MSU Billings Women Individuals
46. Tiffany Piplica, 20:26
49. Susan Kocab, 20:46
51. Cierra Dornfeld, 20:54
58. Kristy Burns, 21:17
67. Tracie Overberg, 21:47
69. Kym Island, 22:09
72. Kisa Kron, 22:31
76. Erin Gannon, 23:02

Women Team Results
1. Utah State
2. Montana State-Bozeman
3. Idaho State
4. Utah
5. Utah Valley State
6. Concordia College
7. Montana State-Billings
8. Westminster College