MSU Cross Country Set to Make Appearances at Montana, Roy Griak Invitationals

Friday, September 28

Missoula, MT (UM GC)

5 p.m.

Montana State University

Montana Invitational

Photo by: Sam Bloom

MSU Cross Country Set to Make Appearances at Montana, Roy Griak Invitationals

9/26/2018 6:12:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country

Roy Griak Invitational Stream (FloTrack Subscription)

Montana State’s cross country teams are slated to compete in two different meets over a two-day span with the Bobcats splitting their lineups

By: Andrew Pedersen

Montana State's cross country teams are slated to compete in two different meets over a two-day span with the Bobcats splitting their lineups. MSU will send a group of runners to the Montana Invitational in Missoula on Friday, Sept. 28, then have a lineup of Bobcat men and women compete in the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday in Minnesota.

"It being the first away meet is an adjustment the team has to make," Montana State head coach Lyle Weese said. "It will be interesting to see how they respond competing at an away course. They're going compete against teams they haven't seen maybe at all or very little of in their careers at MSU. We're excited to see how we stack up against some of these teams from the Midwest and Pacific regions."

The Bobcats are sending a contingent of runners to the annual Montana Invitational that starts with the women's 5-kilometer race at 5 p.m. The men's 8K race follows at 5:45 p.m., with the two races combining to feature a field of over 100 competitors.

Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Idaho, Pacific, Santa Clara, host Montana and MSU make up the field in the women's race. MSU, Montana, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga and Idaho make up the team start list on the men's side.

"It's likely a few or even many running at the Montana Invite may be in our conference lineup," Weese said. "It's important they get in a race and have a competition opportunity. I think it's really good for those individuals that weren't in our top seven to go there, so instead of being eighth on our team, they may be our top person in that meet for our team. They may not have anybody to fall back on. They're going to be responsible for the team score at the meet and it'll be a good opportunity."

Live timing for the Montana Invitational will be provided by CompetitiveTiming.com.

Montana State sends seven on both its men's and women's teams to represent the Bobcats at the Roy Griak Invitational in Falcon Heights, Minn., on Saturday.

Known as one of the largest meets in the country, the event hosted by Minnesota includes six collegiate races and four high school races at Les Bolstad Golf Course. The Merrill Fischbeinn Men's 8K Gold race begins at approximately 10:10 a.m. MST. It's followed by the Jack Johnson Women's 6K Gold race which is scheduled for 11:15 a.m.

The Bobcats' men's squad will be represented by Collin Buck, Riley Collins, Duncan Hamilton, Ty Mogan, Isaac Schmidt, Braden Stremcha and Cooper West. The women's lineup will consist of Trisha Carlson, Samantha Kelderman, Kendra Larson, Kelsi Lasota, Madison Liechty, Gillian Maness and Layne Oliver.

"It's a great opportunity," Weese said. "It's not as large of a field as it typically is, which I think is a great stepping stone from our home meet to eventually our next meet, the Pre-National Invitational. The University of Minnesota will certainly be strong, as well as some of the other teams in the meet."

Over 15 Division I universities will be featured in both the men's and women's races. The races will be available to watch with a subscription fee on the FloTrack website.