MISSOULA — For the first time since 2003, Montana has the Big Sky Conference’s men’s cross country athlete of the week. Zachary Giesch, who finished ninth at the WSU Cougar Classic in Colfax, Wash., while running against a nationally ranked Washington State team, brought home the honor for the Grizzlies.
Giesch is the first Grizzly male since Antony Ford in 2003 to be named athlete of the week in the loaded Big Sky Conference.
“This is a fantastic honor for Zach. He’s a young man that came in from Oregon a couple of years ago with a lot of potential and he has faced a lot of adversity since he’s been here with injuries and other things,” head coach Doug Fraley said. “The thing about Zach is that he has remained diligent in trying to get to the point where his potential would start showing.”
In the first 8K race of the season, Giesch outraced his teammate Carson Steckelberg down the home stretch to finish two-tenths ahead of his fellow Grizzly with a time of 24:16.7. It was a personal-best time at that distance by over a minute for Giesch and earned him a tough top 10 against a talented field.
Giesch finished third on Montana and 13th overall at the season opener in Bozeman at the 5K distance. The junior knew he could do better and spent the intervening two weeks pushing himself prior to the Colfax trip. It paid off with a very fast run.
“He was really disappointed with his performance and was hell-bent on going to Washington State and running a big race against big-time competition,” Fraley said. “It was great to see him break through, run as our number one, and run a tremendous time in getting a top ten at a big meet like that one.”
The Grizzlies will be home this week with the Montana Invite on Friday night. Giesch and his teammates on the men’s side will run at 6:30 p.m. while the women kick things off at 5:45 at the UM Golf Course.
