By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

Picking up where she left off in the spring, Baylor junior Maggie Montoya ran a sizzling meet-record time of 13:24.4 to win the season-opening Bear Twilight Invitational Tuesday night at the HOT Soccer Complex.

The Baylor women placed two other runners in the top 10 and six overall in the top 20 to win their home meet for the ninth consecutive year, while a shorthanded men's team took second for its best finish in three years.

"Maggie's in great shape right now, coming off a great outdoor season," Baylor head coach Todd Harbour said. "She took a little break this summer, but she's in really good shape. I'm really proud of the way she ran today, looked very controlled."

Cate Westenhover Barrett, a former Baylor standout who won this meet twice (2010-11), set the early pace and helped Montoya come through with a 5:22 first mile on the flat 4,000-meter (2.5-mile) course.

"I got out a little too fast. Sometimes, I can be off on pacing," Montoya said. "But I was really excited to be out here and running next to Cate. I was like, 'Oh, this is fun.' It stung me a little bit later, but I was having fun and feeling good. Having everybody cheering for you, you get wrapped up in it."

Running unattached, Barrett and former Marist runner Michelle Gay were the next two runners across the line. Baylor junior Peyton Thomas was the only other collegiate runner to break 14 minutes, finishing fourth in 13:59.7, while returning all-conference and all-region runner Alex Davis was eighth in 14:21.0.

Rounding out Baylor's top five, sophomore Madison Zimmerman was 13th in 14:32.8 and senior transfer Chlesea Orr from Washington was right behind her in 14th at 14:34.0.

"Probably the highlight for us was to see Chelsea Orr, a young lady who transferred this past year," Harbour said. "That was her first race in three years, and she did a great job. It was exciting to see her reaction, just to get through that first one. "

A consistent top-five runner last year, sophomore Ann-Marie Dunlap was sixth on the team and 19th overall at 14:47.6. The women's team scored 29 points to easily outdistance SMU (58), North Texas (73), TCU (81), Incarnate Word (125) and UTA (165).

"That's about where we are right now," Harbour said. "We've got a couple runners that aren't where they need to be right now, and we'll be better in a month. But it's a good starting point. Alex had a bike accident this summer, broke her clavicle, so she lost some training and is coming back. So, she'll be there. Annie will be there. Girls that were a big part of what we did last year, they did a good job. And we've got a couple that will make some big improvements in the next month."

Holding out three of their top six and running the freshmen unattached, the Baylor men placed second with 65 points. A strong North Texas team that is ranked third in the South Central Region took the top five individual places and finished first with 15 points.

"I still need to find a little bit from the guys, but I had some guys that weren't running today that can help out a ton," said assistant head coach Jon Capron, who held out seniors Matt Galvin and JR Hardy and junior Jordan West.

Sophomore Eric Anderson, fifth in this meet a year ago, placed seventh and covered the 6,000-meter course in 18:43.2. UNT's James Coleman won the individual title with a time of 18:21.6.

"(The UNT runners) were going a little bit slow that second mile, so I thought I would make them work for it," Anderson said. "It's just tough when you don't have that familiar face of the guy running next to you. I just feel like that competition makes me want to go for it sometimes."

Matt League, a junior transfer from Northern Arizona, was eighth in 18:49.5. Rounding out the top five for the Bears were sophomore Matt Parham (12th, 19:14.7) and seniors Chris McElroy (1th, 19:28.2) and Kyle Scanlan (30th, 19:50.4).

"I think we had a pretty good showing," Capron said. "I had a couple of them say they were going to train through this one. And I was like, 'All right, but if you don't run that well, then prepare to deal with how it feels.'''

After running their only home meet of the year, the Baylor men and women will stay in-state the next two weeks with the Ken Garland Invitational Sept. 12 in Denton and the Gerald Richey Invitational Sept. 19 in Grand Prairie.