CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah University cross country teams will begin post-season play as the Thunderbirds travel to Flagstaff, Ariz., on Oct. 30 for the Big Sky Conference Championship hosted by Northern Arizona University.

Head Coach Isaac Wood said,

"We are looking forward to the opportunity to compete in our first Big Sky Conference Championship back in the Big Sky. We have had some really good weeks of training, and we are confident that we will have a performance that you'll be proud of. I'm proud of these young adults who worked so hard and are excited to enter the postseason with confidence." 

Big Sky Conference Championship

What: The Big Sky Cross Country Championship

When: The men's 8K race is slated to start at 10:00 a.m., followed by the women's 5K at 11:00 a.m. 

Where: Buffalo Park, Flagstaff, AZ.  

Who: NAU, University of Montana, Eastern Washington University, Montana State University

The Thunderbirds

The Thunderbirds opened the season up north in Orem at the Utah Valley University Invite, where the men claimed third place, and the women finished fourth. 

They then headed west for the University of California, Riverside Invitational, where the men had their season's best performance. The men's team won both the invite and the open races, and Dax Daley won individual honors in the open race. The women also had a high finish of fourth out of 30 teams. 

SUU then returned home for the Color Country Invitational, with the men taking second and the women with their third consecutive fourth-place finish to start the year. The Thunderbirds then headed to Eugene Ore., for the Bill Dellinger Invite hosted by the University of Oregon. The men's team finished seventh, followed closely by the women's team in eighth. SUU's men's team finalized the regular season at the Pre-Nationals Invite in Terre Haute, Ind., with a finish of 33rd. 

Scouting The Field

NAU started the season at home with the George Kyte Classic, where the Lumberjacks won both the men's and women's races. They then went east for the John McNicolas Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., taking seventh in the men's race and a first-place finish in the women's. 

NAU's most recent race was the Nuttycombe Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin. The women's team finished third, followed by the men's in 13th. 

Montana has competed in five races leading into the Big Sky Championships, with its first stop at Montana State for the Bobcat Twilight, where the Grizzlies men's team finished second and the women third. The Grizzlies then headed to Pullman, Wash., for the Cougar Classic, where the men placed second and the women third. 

Montana's men's team rounded out the season with finishes of second, third, and second. The women's team completed the regular season with fifth, fourth, and sixth-place finishes.

EWU opened the season at the Clash of the Inland Northwest, where the men's team took second place, and the women followed in third. The Eagles then competed at the Montana Invite with the men capturing fourth place just behind the women, who combined for third. 

They then followed it with the Frank Knott Classic in Spokane, Wash., where the women claimed third, followed by the men in fifth. EWU rounded out the regular season at the George Oja Invite with the women on top of the podium in first place, and the men's team crossed the line for fourth. 

MSU's men's and women's teams both started the season with three consecutive first-place finishes at the Bobcat Twilight, Montana Invite, and Frank Knott Classic. The Bobcats concluded the regular season at the Pre-National Invitational with the men's team in 12th and the women's team in 28th.

Up Next

The men's and women's teams will wait to see if they are selected for the University of New Mexico Mountain Regionals on Nov. 13. If the Thunderbirds are selected, the women's race will begin at 11:00 a.m., followed by the men's race at 12:00 p.m.

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