Montana State University
BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIP
Bobcat Cross Country Both Finish Third at Big Sky Championship
11/2/2013 6:20:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
Demorest, Polson earn All-Big Sky nods
November in Bozeman can be downright wintry but the weather gods held out and gave the Montana State Cross Country team perfect weather for a great day of racing at the 2013 Big Sky Conference Cross Country Championship meet. Coming into the meet both teams were dealing with fourth place rankings in the Big Sky preseason polls and it certainly served as motivation at Bridger Creek Golf Course on Saturday.
After four sixth-place team finishes in the last five years, the Montana State women finished third overall with 101 points. Weber State won the team title with 55, followed by Northern Arizona with 64. MSU's finish marks their best team performance since the 2004 season, also with a third place spot. Coincidentally, that was also the last time the meet was held in Bozeman.
The women's race, approximately a three-mile course took off first featuring many favored runners from other Big Sky institutions but senior Heather Demorest had goals of her own. After finishing in 16th place both in 2011 and 2012, the Darby, Mont. native got out fast and was able to stick with some of the finest runners in the Big Sky, including Weber State's Amber Henry. Henry was the 2011 and 2012 individual winner.
Demorest was able to stay in the front of the back and put her foot on the gas as she cruised to her first All-Conference cross country performance, earning the silver medal with a time of 17:02.10. She finished eight seconds behind Weber's Summer Harper who was the individual champion in 16:54.20. Demorest's finish marks another milestone, being the first Bobcat woman to earn an all-Big Sky nod since 2011 and the highest individual finish since Faith Harvel in 1994, who also placed second.
The Bobcat women had four of their five scoring runners in the top-30 in the field. Rachel Atwood produced a steady race to finish 14th overall in 17:32.9, while Christie Schiel kicked it into high gear in the final mile to place 20th with a time of 17:46.8. Jenette Northey and Rachel Sullivan brought up the rear of Bobcat scorers placing 29th (17:56.4) and 36th (18:03.50).
"Heather's race was really special," said head coach Dale Kennedy. "But we are all really about the group here. The rest of the pack really pushed at the end of the race to get in there and do their part for the team."
In the men's 5-miler, the Bobcats also managed a third place collective finish, with 89 points. Northern Arizona, the heavily-favored second ranked team in the nation took their seventh consecutive team title with 25 points, sweeping the first three places on the podium. Matt McElroy was the winner with a time of 24.32.19.
Trevor Polson, who has had a strong season thus far also earned his first All-Big Sky Conference finish, coming in ninth with a time of 25:00.46.
MSU's next highest finisher was Seth Garbett, who also had a lifetime best performance, placing 16th overall in 25:22.28. Behind Garbett were Cristian Soratos in 18th (25:41.31) and Jacob Kirk in 19th (25:42.62). Soratos, who along with Polson has been one of the team's front runners in 2013, jumped 10 spots from his 28th place finish just one year ago.
Rounding out the Bobcat scorers was Zachary Kughn in 27th with a time of 26:03.05
"We had some issues overall in our team performances but Trevor getting all-conference is huge for him," said Kennedy. "We've been battling some fall colds and I think we did well considering the situation. We will regroup over the next two weeks and really get out there and show our depth on the men's side and what we're really capable of doing out there on the course."
The Bobcats earned some deserved rest as they'll take two weeks off before the NCAA Mountain Regional Championship meet on Nov. 15, in Ogden, Utah, hosted by Weber State.
