Havre, Mont.  -  The Montana Western men's and women's cross-country teams competed in the Frontier Conference Championship meet Friday afternoon. 

It was a perfect day for running on the Hi-Line, minus the slight wind blowing in from the north. The Bulldog men got things started and ran the best they have all season. Matt Wilson led the way for the men with a fourth place finish in a time of 26:53 to earn All-Conference honors.  

"It was a great day and a good race," Matt Wilson said. "I definitely ran it the way I wanted to. Being All-Conference is great." 

Also earning All-Conference accolades was sophomore Luke Lutz, finishing the 8k in 27:33 for 10^thplace.  

Rounding out the scoring five were Aidan Vlasaty, who ran 28:17 to finish 20^thoverall. Joe Lamb finished 24^th with a personal best time of 28:32 and Joel Lavergne ran a 29:35 to finish in 28^thto help the Bulldogs to a fourth place team finish. 
 
"I thought we ran about as good as we did all season," head coach Dylan Zitzer said. "It was exciting to see some of the younger kids make some really significant progress, Joe Lamb especially. I happy for the guys, we had some bigger goals at the beginning of the year we couldn't quite get there today. But I'm really proud of the hard work we put in." 
 
In the Women's 5k the Bulldogs ran their best team race of the season. Although the race played out a bit slower than expected. Senior Eireann O'Connor led the team with a second place finish in 19:10 to earn All-Conference honors.  

"It was very mentally challenging to hold back and really tough to not go when I wanted," Eireann O'Connor said. "I could feel how slow we were going out. I knew being patient was going to be worth it in the end. I could have gone so much faster but I tried to play the game that was dealt, it was just kinda frustrating how slow we went out." 

Fellow senior Marley Greene also earned All-Conference honors with a 10^thplace finish in a time of 19:48. 

The Bulldogs as a team finished second overall, Jodi Cameron finished 14^th with a time 20:22. Liz Varner ran in 20:28 to finish 16^thand Morgan Baseley finished in 17^thplace with a time of 20:29 to round out the scoring five. Finishing just behind were Emma Lehr (20:40), Mason Baseley (21:08) and Sarah Passey (22:10). 

"I thought we could have run a little better today," Zitzer said. "I'm pretty excited to see Eireann get second today." 

The Bulldogs are off for the winter and will find out if they qualified for the NAIA national meet in March.  

The National Championship meet will take place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on April 9, 2021.