Glacier’s Owen Thiel owns the third-best time over a cross country course in Montana this fall, and you’d figure that would have plenty of colleges calling.

Not if he called them first. 

It probably makes sense that a student interested in engineering would reverse-engineer the recruiting process, but Thiel had his sets sight on Montana State and Wyoming a long time ago.  

Both have solid programs — the Bobcats and Cowboys are ranked 9-10 in the Mountain Region of NCAA — and of course, engineering programs. 

“I reached out to these schools before they ever reached out to me,” Thiel said this week. “I knew those were my two options. Location, academics.... They started getting back to me last winter-ish.” 

That was after Thiel finished third at the 2024 State AA Cross Country meet, which he’ll be running again Saturday at the UM Golf Course. He finished in 15 minutes. 49.2 seconds; he ran 15:31.8 at the Flathead Invitational earlier in the season. 

He clocked 15:06.4 at this year’s Flathead Invite, and that was more or less when he committed to Wyoming — where his father Nick also competed. 

“I actually went on a visit last spring,” said the younger Thiel. “It wasn’t a done deal. But the coaches were great, teammates were great and Laramie is a place I could see myself really enjoying living in.” 

First things first: He has a friendly rivalry with Miles Halvorsen to continue. The Bozeman High senior finished a second behind Thiel at the Flathead Invite, then surpassed him at the Bozeman and Mountain West Invitational meets as well as the Capital City 7 on 7, which Halvorsen won for a second time. 

“He is a really good runner,” Thiel said. “He’s very strong. He had kind of a rough junior year” — Halvorsen finished seventh at State — “but obviously he’s back for his senior year, and I’m glad he is.” 

Glacier coach Cody Moore remembers before Thiel’s freshman year, wummer workouts brought Owen together with the recently graduated (and now at MSU) Sam Ells.  

“They jumped right into it,” Moore said. “And one of my assistants watched one and said, ‘I think Owen might be a state champion one day.’ “ 

Thiel ran 15:56.87 at the Mountain West, on the same venue that hosts State. Halvorsen won in 15:17.20, so there is some ground to make up.  

Thiel is just as interested in how his teammates might fare.  

“Our No. 3 runner last year (Gabe Ackerly), he’s just gotten back and he’s run two races and he’s back to where he had ‘em last year,” Thiel said. “Which is really nice. Our No. 4 runner (Nathan Turner) just PRd by like 20 seconds. He’s on the up and up.” 

That brings us to the venue. 

I have some mixed feelings,” Thiel allowed. “First mile is a little challenging. Then the hill is pretty brutal. The last mile is generally downhill it’s pretty fast. Nothing too scary, nothing too easy. It has its challenges. “ 

Those most challenging Miles, as it were, will be Halvorsen — and not for the last time: The Bozeman runner is headed to Colorado State, a conference rival of Wyoming, next year.