MSU Cross Country Prepped for Big Sky Conference Meet

Friday, October 28

Moscow, ID

12 p.m.

Montana State University

Big Sky Conference Championship

10/26/2016 10:06:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Meet Central (Big Sky)Meet Central (Idaho)

The Bobcats travel to Moscow in search of a Big Sky Conference Championship against a competitive field

By: Andrew Pedersen

The Montana State men's and women's cross country teams travel to Moscow, Idaho, for the 2016 Big Sky Conference Championships beginning on Friday, Oct. 28. The Big Sky meet starts off with the men's race at 12 p.m. MDT, followed by the women's race at 1:15 p.m. at the University of Idaho Golf Course.

"It's one of the meets we train for all summer and fall, so it's a big meet," Montana State head coach Lyle Weese said. "It's kind of the meet we're always getting ready for. The regional will be the next step for us. It would be great to see continued improvement (at the conference championship) and see us building towards that regional meet in two weeks. I would like to see us progress and have our team run as well as they can and have all eight runners have a good, solid experience."

Keeping up With the Championships
The Big Sky Conference Championship races will be available on the Idaho track and field Facebook page (Facebook.com/Idaho Track), with Idaho planning to stream the meet on Facebook Live. Live results will also be available via govandals.com, with all championship information accessible on the Idaho and Big Sky Conference meet central pages.

Season at a Glance
Both MSU teams have competed in three meets prior to heading to the Big Sky Conference Championships.

In all three races, sophomores Tyler Mogan and Alyssa Snyder have led the men's and women's teams, respectively.

On the men's side, the Bobcats opened the year with a fourth-place showing at the MSU-Bozeman Running Company Invitational before earning a split at the Montana Invitational Sept. 30. They followed that another fourth place finish in the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, Oct. 15.

Seniors Adam Wollant and Zachary Kughn have contributed by finishing in the top four of MSU's scoring lineup in every race this year. Sophomores Anthony Schmalz and Noah Kirkland have placed in MSU's top seven on three occasions this season, while freshman Isaac Barville and senior Shawn Peden have also made two appearances in the Bobcats' top seven.

Several ranked opponents make up the Big Sky men's field including Northern Arizona, the first-ranked team in the national according to the most recent USTFCCCA coaches' poll. Southern Utah also comes in at No. 20 while two others are rated in the Mountain Region.

That impressive set of opponents has the Bobcats focused on running their best race instead of concentrating on when they cross the finish line.

"Last year, we went to the conference championships on the guys' side and we kind of had some high expectations and then things didn't go well," Weese said. "We fell down a couple more spots just because we weren't reaching our expectations. "This year, we're really focusing on just the process of each runner running their individual best race instead of having outcome goals.

The MSU women's team opened the year by taking fifth in the MSU-Bozeman Running Co. Invite, then followed that with a double dual sweep of Montana and Gonzaga at the Montana Invitational. In a field featuring some of the best teams in Division I cross country, the Bobcats took 41st place at the Pre-Nationals Invitational.

The MSU women's team has had the same set of runners place in the top seven in each race for the squad this season. Sophomore Kelsi Lasota and Louisa Serpe finished second and third, respectively, for their highest team finishes of the year in the Pre-Nationals meet. Also scoring for the third consecutive meet for the Bobcats in Terre Haute included Madison Liechty, Layne Oliver, Kimberly Parsell and Sierra Tucker.

Five Big Sky teams are currently featured in the USTFCCCA regional rankings, while MSU was ranked this season until the most recent poll. It makes this year's Big Sky women's race very competitive from the outlook, even with a team that features a majority of a lineup that hasn't competed at the conference meet.

"The conference (on the women's side) is much more open compared to the men's side," Weese said. "This year, it doesn't seem like there's a completely dominant team. Weber State is really strong and Northern Arizona and Idaho are too, so there's a lot of good teams. We're looking to have all our girls go in there and run their best race, run confidently and really get into the race and not be intimated by the Big Sky meet. Just get in there and race and enjoy the fun and excitement of competing."

In the Rankings
In the Oct. 17 USTFCCCA coaches' poll, the Northern Arizona men's team was ranked No. 1 in the country and Mountain Region. Southern Utah also made the national poll coming in at 20th and is sixth in the region. Weber State and Idaho State also sit in 12th and 13th in the Mountain Region, respectively.

In the Big Sky Preseason Poll, Montana was selected in a tie for fourth with Montana. Northern Arizona was first with all 12 first-place votes, followed by Southern Utah and Weber State.

Weber State ranks as the highest women's squad, coming in at seventh in the most recent Mountain Region Poll. The Wildcats are followed by Northern Arizona (ninth), Southern Utah (13th) and Montana (14th), while Idaho sits in 13th in the West Region.

Montana State was tied for third in the Big Sky Preseason Poll with Idaho. Northern Arizona was second with three first-place votes and Weber State was voted first with nine selections.

Last Season's Big Sky Championship
The MSU women's team took fifth and the men finished seventh in the 2015 Big Sky meet ran in Cedar City, Utah.

Rachel Atwood led the women's team by finishing 20th and Diego Leon led the men's team with an 18th place finish. Then-freshmen Alyssa Snyder and Tyler Mogan each took second on the women's and men's squads with a 23rd and 41st place finish.

Past Championship History
The Bobcats have had success over the years at the Big Sky meet individually and as a team.

The women most recently finished third at the championship in 2013 and 2014, but hadn't finished that high since 2003. MSU boasts Big Sky titles in 1985, 1986, 1994 and 1995, the third most among Big Sky programs. Annette Hand (1984, 1985) and Jennifer Clearly Bayliss (1992) are MSU's lone individual champions on the women's side, while Heather Demorest's runner-up finish in 2013 is the Bobcats' last all-conference performance.

MSU's men's team finished runner-up in the team standings in 2009 and 2010, the highest since it won the Big Sky title in 2002. The Bobcats boast two Big Sky Championships, having also won in 1993. Montana State men's cross country has been represented by an individual conference champion on five occasions, tied for the third highest mark among Big Sky schools. Individual title winners include Steve Bishop (1981), Shannon Butler (1989, 1990), Miguel Galeana (1997) and Casey Jermyn (2002).