Jackson in action: Ronan's resourceful runner

Mission Valley native Jackson Duffey is another cross country runner who has made the transition from prep to collegiate competition look close to seamless.

One of the athletic nicknames for Ronan is that of the “Flying R” and Duffey would seem to have incorporated aspects of this association with a twist of the Greek mythological Mercury for swiftness.

Duffey just culminated his junior season with a fourth place finish at the Frontier Conference championships, earning All-Frontier Conference honors in the process with the top 10 finish.

Duffey has also garnered a handful of Frontier Conference cross country runner of the week accolades over the course of this season running for Rocky Mountain College in Billings.

Among those include an impressive performance at the Great Lakes Challenge at Grand Rapids, Michigan, the end of October, finishing ninth out of over 300 runners.

Duffey’s 8K time of 25:20 helped the RMC Battlin’ Bears place seventh in the men’s team standings.

In early October, Duffey placed fourth out of over 50 runners at the 8K Montana Open in Missoula. He was the highest placing NAIA runner.

Then toward the end of September at the Montana State XC Invitational held in Bozeman, Duffey finished 20th out of more than five dozen in the 8K with a time of 26.02. The meet featured stiff competition from NCAA Division I teams.

Duffey also has another runner of the week honor stemming from his freshman season at the MSU-Billings Yellowjacket Invitational, where he placed 12th out of three dozen runners.

The 6K race was held over a cut hay field, incorporating the terrain of a steep hill and gravel park paths.

Here’s a look at each of Duffey’s finishes:

(Fr08Nov19) Frontier XC Championship: 4, J.Duffey 25:49.68

(Sa26Oct19) Great Lakes Challenge 8K: 9, J.Duffey 25:20

(Fr18Oct19) UM-Western Open: dnr

(Sa12Oct19) Inland Empire Championship: 30, J.Duffey 24:49

(Fr04Oct19) Montana Open 8K: 4, J.Duffey 25:36

(Sa21Sep19) MSU Classic 8K: 20, J.Duffey 26:02

(Fr13Sep19) Frontier XC Preview: 8, J.Duffey 27:18.10