Saturday, September 15
BOZEMAN (Bridger Creek GC)
9 a.m.
Montana State University
vs
MSU Cross Country Classic
Photo by: Kelly Gorham
Bobcats Open Highly Anticipated 2018 Cross Country Season at Bridger Creek
9/13/2018 1:56:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
Montana State looks forward to the 42nd running of its season-opening cross country meet at Bridger Creek Golf Course
The Montana State cross country squads are set to make their debuts this Saturday when the Bobcats host the MSU Cross Country Classic beginning at 9 a.m. at Bridger Creek Golf Course.
The Bobcats are scheduled to compete in six meets over the course of the cross country season. Following the home meet this Saturday, MSU splits its lineups to participate in the Montana Invitational on Sept. 28 and the Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota on Sept. 29. MSU travels to Madison, Wis., for the NCAA DI Pre-National Invite on Oct. 13 ahead of the Big Sky and NCAA DI Mountain Region Championships.
"It's great to be able to start the season without having to travel to an away meet," head coach Lyle Weese said. "To have everyone have a chance get comfortable here in Bozeman, it's a great advantage for us at the start of the year and just allows us to get settled in."
MSU's men's and women's squads return in 2018 with plenty of experience.
The Bobcat men return all of their point scorers from their 2017 Big Sky Conference fifth-place team. Twelve Bobcats are slated to race Saturday on the men's side, with five newcomers competing. The women's side has even more familiarity heading into 2018. Every runner that placed in the top five of any race during the prior season returns to the squad that will have 16 compete on the Bridger Creek Course.
Four Bobcat women make their opening appearance for MSU on a team that took runner-up at the 2017 Big Sky meet.
"It's great having a lot of experienced and high-performing returners," Weese said. "They're really going to be the base of our teams this year. I think on both sides, the coaches in the conference recognized that we have a lot of strong returners and voted us fairly high in the poll."
The Bobcats were listed among the contenders in the Big Sky Conference Coaches' Preseason Poll.
MSU's women's team was picked to win the upcoming Big Sky title by the league's head coaches. While the Bobcats narrowly edged reigning champ Northern Arizona by one point, it backs up the belief of a strong team in contention of a conference title. The men's squad was also ranked highly in the conference poll. They were picked to place fourth at the Big Sky meet scheduled on Oct. 27 in Sacramento, Calif.
Both will look get off to a steady start on their home course.
"We're really looking at the team performance and how the team competes together," Weese said. "(The first meet) definitely sets a tone for the rest of the year. It's not too often that, if we got off to a slow start in this first meet, that things totally turn around. If we run well at this meet, it can be a great starting point for us. We can keep building off of it until the conference and regional championships."
The MSU Cross Country Classic field will consist of three Division I institutions and three from outside the Division I level. Big Sky foes Idaho State and Montana travel to Bozeman for the opening meet of the year. While MSU's men's team is ranked 12th in the Mountain Region and 15th on the women's side, Idaho State's men are ranked 13th and the women are ranked 14th.
In the Big Sky Coaches' Poll, Idaho State's men and women were polled at sixth and seventh, respectively. The Griz men and women were tabbed 10th and sixth, respectively, by the league's coaches.
MSU Billings, MSU Northern and Carroll College are also set to race on Saturday. Carroll's women are ranked 22nd nationally in the NAIA and are among the contenders in the Frontier Conference. MSU Billings, which hosts the NCAA Division II West Region Championships, was voted seventh (men) and 10th (women) in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
The field in the 42nd running of the meet is expected to see favorable conditions compared to the 41st edition of the fall cross country meet held by Montana State. Last year, the Bobcats claimed a first-place tiebreaker over Utah in the women's race – while then-sophomore Carroll Carroll earned the individual top time in the men's race – despite wet and chilly weather.
With the expected weather conditions featuring a party cloudy forecast with temperatures in the upper 50s, Saturday's meet will serve as a solid season-opening event for the teams competing.
"Last year was definitely a surprise," Weese said of the 2017 meet. "Typically we have really nice weather for our cross country meet in the fall. So that was a surprise and a little different, but both teams responded to it really well. Chances are, the weather is going to be nice, but no matter what we'll have to adjust to the conditions. That's really part of the learning process and the preparation for meets later in the year."
The men's five-mile race is set to begin at approximately 9 a.m. followed by the women's three-mile race at 9:45 a.m. Live results will be provided by Competitive Timing and can be found on the Competitive Timing mobile app as well as on the Montana State cross country schedule page on msubobcats.com.
The Bobcats are scheduled to compete in six meets over the course of the cross country season. Following the home meet this Saturday, MSU splits its lineups to participate in the Montana Invitational on Sept. 28 and the Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota on Sept. 29. MSU travels to Madison, Wis., for the NCAA DI Pre-National Invite on Oct. 13 ahead of the Big Sky and NCAA DI Mountain Region Championships.
"It's great to be able to start the season without having to travel to an away meet," head coach Lyle Weese said. "To have everyone have a chance get comfortable here in Bozeman, it's a great advantage for us at the start of the year and just allows us to get settled in."
MSU's men's and women's squads return in 2018 with plenty of experience.
The Bobcat men return all of their point scorers from their 2017 Big Sky Conference fifth-place team. Twelve Bobcats are slated to race Saturday on the men's side, with five newcomers competing. The women's side has even more familiarity heading into 2018. Every runner that placed in the top five of any race during the prior season returns to the squad that will have 16 compete on the Bridger Creek Course.
Four Bobcat women make their opening appearance for MSU on a team that took runner-up at the 2017 Big Sky meet.
"It's great having a lot of experienced and high-performing returners," Weese said. "They're really going to be the base of our teams this year. I think on both sides, the coaches in the conference recognized that we have a lot of strong returners and voted us fairly high in the poll."
The Bobcats were listed among the contenders in the Big Sky Conference Coaches' Preseason Poll.
MSU's women's team was picked to win the upcoming Big Sky title by the league's head coaches. While the Bobcats narrowly edged reigning champ Northern Arizona by one point, it backs up the belief of a strong team in contention of a conference title. The men's squad was also ranked highly in the conference poll. They were picked to place fourth at the Big Sky meet scheduled on Oct. 27 in Sacramento, Calif.
Both will look get off to a steady start on their home course.
"We're really looking at the team performance and how the team competes together," Weese said. "(The first meet) definitely sets a tone for the rest of the year. It's not too often that, if we got off to a slow start in this first meet, that things totally turn around. If we run well at this meet, it can be a great starting point for us. We can keep building off of it until the conference and regional championships."
The MSU Cross Country Classic field will consist of three Division I institutions and three from outside the Division I level. Big Sky foes Idaho State and Montana travel to Bozeman for the opening meet of the year. While MSU's men's team is ranked 12th in the Mountain Region and 15th on the women's side, Idaho State's men are ranked 13th and the women are ranked 14th.
In the Big Sky Coaches' Poll, Idaho State's men and women were polled at sixth and seventh, respectively. The Griz men and women were tabbed 10th and sixth, respectively, by the league's coaches.
MSU Billings, MSU Northern and Carroll College are also set to race on Saturday. Carroll's women are ranked 22nd nationally in the NAIA and are among the contenders in the Frontier Conference. MSU Billings, which hosts the NCAA Division II West Region Championships, was voted seventh (men) and 10th (women) in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
The field in the 42nd running of the meet is expected to see favorable conditions compared to the 41st edition of the fall cross country meet held by Montana State. Last year, the Bobcats claimed a first-place tiebreaker over Utah in the women's race – while then-sophomore Carroll Carroll earned the individual top time in the men's race – despite wet and chilly weather.
With the expected weather conditions featuring a party cloudy forecast with temperatures in the upper 50s, Saturday's meet will serve as a solid season-opening event for the teams competing.
"Last year was definitely a surprise," Weese said of the 2017 meet. "Typically we have really nice weather for our cross country meet in the fall. So that was a surprise and a little different, but both teams responded to it really well. Chances are, the weather is going to be nice, but no matter what we'll have to adjust to the conditions. That's really part of the learning process and the preparation for meets later in the year."
The men's five-mile race is set to begin at approximately 9 a.m. followed by the women's three-mile race at 9:45 a.m. Live results will be provided by Competitive Timing and can be found on the Competitive Timing mobile app as well as on the Montana State cross country schedule page on msubobcats.com.
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