BILLINGS, Mont. – If you drive around Rimrock or Airport Road in Billings often enough, chances are high you will eventually come across members of the Montana State University Billings cross country teams as they train for the upcoming season. Both the 'Jacket men and women's squads are scheduled to being the fall with a trip to South Dakota School of Mines and Technology on September 7. Following are four additional races leading up to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships slated for October 26.
 
Both teams have quality returning runners and will have the benefit of hosting the conference Championships at Amend Park in Billings. Both teams placed eighth in the GNAC in 2018 and will be looking to improve.
 
"These first few practices have really been about getting everybody used to running together again," said head coach Jon Woehl. "Everybody has been doing some different things in the summer in terms of mileage and now we are all coming together and transitioning. I like what I've seen so far. Our returners are definitely stronger and faster than they were at the end of the last year and the newcomers have been looking good as well."
 

Senior captain Nikki Aiken, who has been a member of the team since 2015-16, leads the Yellowjacket women. The Belgrade, Montana native posted two top-10 finishes last season and took 31st place in the GNAC Championships, a 6K race at Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Oregon. Aiken is also the only senior on the five-player team.
 
Aside from Aiken, junior Miranda Livingston (Columbia Falls, Montana) is the most experienced member of the team. Last year, Livingston ranked 22nd in the NCAA West Region Preview and 86th in the GNAC Championships with a time of 28:41.8. She continues to show signs of improvement since her start as a freshman in 2016-17.
 
Though the roster is slimmer than last year, all-five student-athletes return with at least one full season of Division II cross country experience. Sophomore Sierra Durbin (Moore, Montana) competed in all seven races as a true freshman and had a season best 17th place finish at the Gage McSpadden Invitational in Spearfish, South Dakota. She also took 78th position at the GNAC Championship with a 6K time of 26:07.6. Durbin competed in middle distance during indoor and outdoor track and field seasons as well.
 
Rachel Hiner (Harlowton, Montana) also entered every race as a freshman, including the NCAA West Region Championships, where she placed 83rd with a 6K time of 26:44.1. Hiner posted a top-20 time in the NCAA DII West Region Preview at Amend Park in cold, snowy conditions.
 
Sophomore Kailee Stoppel (Billings, Montana) rounds out the all-Montana squad. After graduating Billings West High School, Stoppel made an impact as a freshman with six cross country starts in 2018. Stoppel ended the year on a high note and marked a time of 24:20.2 in the 6K at the GNAC Championships for 54th place.
 
"I'm really excited to see what those five can do," Woehl said. "Having the five that we have is definitely good. They are all upperclassmen and have experience running cross country. If we continue to improve from where we were last year, we are going to be sitting pretty good."
 
Combined, the MSUB women have an average of 1.6 years of varsity experience. They improved three spots in the conference from 2017 to 2018 and will be looking to finish better than eighth for the first time in six years.
 
The men's roster is composed of four returners and four newcomers as Woehl enters his third season as head coach. Senior Ronald Venema (Pinesdale, Montana) is back after posting three top-10 finishes last fall, including a personal best 8K time of 26:26.2. Venema took 37^th at the GNAC Championships and was 61^st in the NCAA West Region among all runners. He put in long distance experience in the spring as well and ran several distances in outdoor track and field, including a 10K best 35:19.14 at the Montana State Open for third place.
 
Sophomore Ase Ackerman (Glendive, Montana) posted notable improvement throughout his first season and will be looking to build even more this year. Ackerman took 13^th place in the Hardrocker Classic 8K and competed in all eight races, including the GNAC Championships. He also had three top-20 finishes and was 78^th fastest in the conference.
 

Sophomore Logan Straus (Billings, Montana) ran six cross country races as a true freshman, including the GNAC Championships and the NCAA West Region Championships. His career best 10K time was 24:48.19, which he achieved in the final race of the season.
 
"Ase and Logan were the new guys last year and now they are already being looked up to as upperclassmen," commented Woehl. "They are there helping the new guys and have been growing into their new roles already. I look forward to seeing how their season plays out."
 
 
Junior Carson Jessop (Pinesdale, Montana) rounds out the returners and comes in with two years of experience on the team. Jessop made it into six races last season and posted a 10^th place finish at the Gage McSpadden Invitational after running an 8K in 26:25.7. In track and field, Jessop competed in the 3000 meters and mile distances.
 
The Yellowjacket men have three incoming freshmen, including Bryant Edgerton (Townsend, Montana), Nick Redgrave (Wolf Point, Montana), and Will Steinfeldt (Reed Point, Montana). Edgerton could make an immediate impact after winning the Montana individual cross country state championship at Broadwater High School as a senior. He earned a combined eight letters and holds a personal best 5K time of 15 minutes, 34 seconds.
 
Redgrave broke track and field school records at St. Labre High School and will hope to translate his shorter distance success to collegiate level cross country. He will add depth to the 'Jacket roster with four years of high school cross country experience and consistent year-by-year marked improvement. Steinfeldt played three sports in high school and will immediately add athleticism to the 2019 roster. He joined the program after a year off from school and has the potential to be a scoring runner.
 
"These first few practices we have been trying to bring the team together while at the same time gauge where everybody is at individually in terms of fitness level with the goal of being more and more cohesive as a group," said Woehl.
 
Woehl also added transfer junior Peder Rickbeil (Billings, Montana), who returned to his hometown team after a year at Seattle Pacific University. There he was largely sidelined by injury but did make an indoor track appearance at the UW Indoor Open. In the mile, Rickbeil posted a time of 4:30.85.
 
Last season, the Yellowjackets hosted the NCAA Division II west regional which brought over 40 teams to Amend Park. This year, the same venue will be the site of the GNAC Championships, where all 11 schools will compete for the cross country title.
 
"I'm looking forward to having the GNAC meet here," Woehl said. "It's always nice to host it in Billings not so much because we know the course better than the other teams, but to be able to sleep in our own beds and wake up to compete in our normal routine and in front of familiar faces is really very helpful."
 
The 'Jackets lead off the schedule on September 7 in Rapid City, South Dakota for the Hardrocker Cross Country Classic at Robbinsdale Park. They will be at Amend Park for the Frontier Preview Open, hosted by Rocky Mountain College on September 13 and the GNAC Preview Meet October 11. The Roy Griak Invitational on September 28 converges schools from all NCAA levels at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Minneapolis. It serves as a good measuring stick for how the team stacks up nationally.
 
"I'm excited to go to the Griak meet again, where we know it will be a bigger event with a lot of good competition but really the excitement extends to the whole season," said Woehl. "You never know how everything is going to shake out. We were picked to finish eighth in the GNAC pre-season poll but we don't ultimately know how we are going to end up. On paper, we believe we can be better than that, but you just don't know until you go out and run."
 
The regular season closes with a trip to Monmouth, Oregon for the NCAA Division II west regional at Ash Creek Preserve November 9. NCAA Division II Nationals are November 23 in Sacramento, California, should the team qualify for the first time in school history.