Bobcat Women Finish First, Carroll Leads Men’s Team at MSU Invite

Saturday, September 16

BOZEMAN (Bridger Creek GC)

9:45 a.m.

Montana State University

MSU-Bozeman Running Company Invitational

Bobcat Women Finish First, Carroll Leads Men’s Team at MSU Invite

9/16/2017 1:17:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Individual Results Men's Team Results Women's Team Results

Despite chilly and snowy conditions, the Montana State cross country teams complete solid performances at Bridger Creek Golf Course Saturday

By: Andrew Pedersen

BOZEMAN, Mont. – The Montana State cross country teams pushed through low temperatures and snow showers and their efforts paid off Saturday, Sept. 16, on a damp Bridger Creek Golf Course. The Bobcats' women's team earned a tiebreaker victory in the team standings and sophomore Cameron Carroll crossed the line first in the men's competition at the 41st annual MSU-Bozeman Running Co. Invitational.

The Bobcat men got the meet off to a strong start as sophomore Cameron Carroll took control half way through the men's 5-mile race and crossed the line first in 25 minutes, 45.58 seconds, 12 seconds ahead of the runner-up. It was his first cross country victory as an MSU runner.

"This race was a lot different for me than last year's race," Carroll said. "If I ran the same time this year instead of last year, I probably would have got like 20th or 30th. I think I was expecting to run faster, but I wasn't expecting to win. So (winning) is a fun bonus."

"Cameron's dedication to his summer training and preparation for cross country stood out," MSU head cross country coach Lyle Weese said. "It could have been easy for him to just say he's a mid-distance runner. But, he really committed to the aerobic training that you need to have to have success in cross country and it will help in his mid-distance events as well."

The Bobcats eventually finished second in the men's team standings with 48 points. Idaho State won the team portion with 22 points, while Montana (75), North Dakota (113) and Northern Colorado (114) followed MSU in Division I standings.

MSU battled Idaho State throughout thanks to contributions from a couple of new faces.

Freshmen Riley Collins and Brandon Hough placed sixth and seventh, respectively, in the individual standings. Collins finished with a time of 26:07.57 and Hough came in at 26:13.14.

Rounding out the Bobcats' scoring lineup was Anthony Schmalz (26:38.38) with his 15th-place showing and Gannon Chamberlain's (26:46.06) 20th-place finish. Andrew Vandine followed just behind as he crossed in 21st with a mark of 26:47.52

"The two freshmen have been solid in practice and they're just two solid guys, they're guys you don't have to worry about things with," Weese said. "We're a little thin on numbers on the guys side, so we have to have pretty much every one run well for us to have a good meet. It's a little bit difficult of a situation, but I think as the year progresses and we have more races, everyone will feel more locked in each race."

The Montana State women's team had a standout performance as a squad during the 3-mile race, tying Pac-12 and 22nd-ranked Utah with 42 points. The Bobcats earned the meet nod by tiebreaker, with the Bobcats' top-five finishers placing ahead of the Utes' top five.

MSU had several packs lead them to the team victory as the Bobcats finished 6-7-8-10-11 in their scoring lineup.

Kelsi Lasota earned the Bobcats' top finish as she placed sixth in a time of 17:29.35. Caroline Hardin and Anna French finished in back-to-back places with respective times of 17:35.47 and 17:37.69. Completing MSU's scoring line were freshmen Samantha Kelderman (17:43.26) and Trisha Carlson (17:45.97).

"It was awesome," Lasota said of the team's performance. "Coming into the meet, we wanted to run as a huge pack and try to work together as much as possible. We have big goals going into conference and where we want to place and we wanted to go out today and show people what we're able to do. I think we did really well."

Madison Liechty (18:05.88) took sixth among Bobcats and 17th overall while Jaycie Schmalz (18:09.48) crossed the line 20th overall to complete MSU's seven top finishers.

"Winning on that tiebreaker over Utah is really exciting for our women's team just because last year they were significantly better than us," Weese said. "We've made huge steps in order to be competitive with a team like that. Regardless of who they have in their lineup, Utah is still going to be a solid team, so knowing we were competitive with them was huge."

The Bobcats fielded a deeper lineup on the women's side and the results showed for those beyond the initial seven scorers.

Maddie Lee, Joby Rosenleaf and Morgan Jones finished 23rd-25th overall, Layne Oliver placed 32nd, while Kendra Larson and Chiara Warner crossed the line back-to-back 39th and 40th overall. Those finishes would have scored points on Idaho State, North Dakota and Northern Colorado's lineups.

"The depth on the women's side is unbelievable," Weese said. "Even if you look at our 7-12 runners, they were really competitive and in the front half of the race. You know you have a good team when they able to compete well. They've come together and pulled together and are really running as a team and that could propel them to some great things."

The Bobcats head to the second of their five regular season meets when they travel to Missoula to face the Griz in a dual on Sept. 29.