Montana State University
PRE-NATIONAL INVITATIONAL
Harriers Hit Their Stride in Terra Haute
10/19/2013 11:45:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
Pre-National Invite shows huge improvement for Cross Country
The Pre-National Invitation marks one of the most important meets of the season, for the sake of allowing teams to gauge their progress. Montana State Cross Country set out seeking status which is exactly what they did. At the Lavern Gibson cross country course in Terra Haute, Ind. both Bobcat squads qualified for the Blue Races, a field set for the elite teams in the collegiate cross country world.
Hosted by Indiana State, the day kicked off with the Men's Blue 8K Race with the Bobcats pacing themselves to a 13th place overall team finish among 52 exceptional Division I programs. MSU tallied 524 points with an average 8K time of 24:36.97. Prior to the race, Montana State held onto a 10th place ranking in the Mountain Region.
Colorado, who came into the meet ranked second in the nation and first in the Mountain Region won the men's title with 90 points and an average of 23:49.48.
Cristian Soratos, who won the Bozeman Running Company Invitational back on Sept. 21, was the team's highest finisher coming in 45th out of nearly 360 runners. He crossed the line with a time of 24:10.25. Trevor Polson, who has notched a win of his own this year at the Montana Invitational, placed 75th in 24:26.33. In the third slot was Jacob Kirk in 105th, clocking in at 24:39.09. Just seven spots behind Kirk was Seth Garbett in 112th with a time of 24:42.52
Zachary Kughn saw huge improvement again from the previous season, coming in 187th with a time of 25:06.66. Rounding out the MSU roster was Joel Estelle in 291st (25:50.17) and Grant Grosvenor in 348th (26:48.49).
After a last place team finish in 2012, MSU Women's Cross Country sought out with improvement as the main focus in the Women's Blue 6K Race, and were able to meet that goal. The Women came in 40th place, out of 49 teams, with 955 points. Last year they came in 38th of 38 competing programs. The Bobcats averaged a 6K time of 22:03.38.
Georgetown was the 2013 overall winner with 117 points and an average time of 20:41.77.
Heather Demorest, a senior, in her second year of being the team's front runner, came in 63rd overall after a 121st place performance just one year ago. Demorest crossed the finish line 21:11.96.
Jenette Northey finished in MSU's number-two spot coming in 174th in 21:55.67. Just three spots behind her was Rachel Atwood in 177th with a time of 21:56.13. Christie Schiel clocked a time of 22:30.35 for 260th place, followed by Rachel Sullivan in 283rd (22:42.75).
Mackenzie O'Dore (322nd – 23:23.23) and Michelle Cline (328th – 23:43.57) closed out the Blue and Gold racers in Terra Haute.
"We certainly saw a lot of the improvement we were banking on today," said head coach Dale Kennedy. "This gave us the chance to see where we stand at this level and while there's still plenty of room for improvement, I'm really pleased with what we were able to accomplish for both teams."
Saturday's meet serves as the final tune-up before the 2013 Big Sky Conference Championships, which are slated for Nov. 2 in Bozeman, hosted by the Bobcats.
