Montana State Opens Cross Country Season in Helena

Friday, September 6

Helena, MT

11 a.m.

Montana State University

Carroll College Early Bird Open

Photo by: Todd Goodrich

9/5/2019 9:48:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

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The Bobcats are set to travel a lineup of runners to Helena to take part in the Carroll College Early Bird Open on Friday

By: Andrew Pederen Pedersen

The Montana State cross country season has traditionally began when the Bobcats host the annual MSU Cross Country Classic at Bridger Creek Golf Course. This season, the team will travel a lineup of runners to Helena to take part in the Carroll College Early Bird Open on Friday.

"It's going to be fun to have an earlier season meet," said Lyle Weese, Montana State's director of track and field and cross country. "We're not going to have many of our student-athletes compete. We're going to use the meet to get some of the nerves out of the way in a lower key setting. We'll build from that into our home meet and the rest of the schedule."

The Bobcat men's and women's squads return several key members from the 2018 season.

Ty Mogan, an NCAA meet qualifier a season ago, will pace the Bobcat men's team. Mogan, along with senior Gannon Chamberlain and juniors Collin Buck and Cameron Carroll, bring plenty of experience to the group. Sophomores Duncan Hamilton, Teagan Olson, Isaac Schmidt, Braden Stremcha and Cooper West each have a year's worth of familiarity in college cross country. Ben Perrin and Levi Taylor are the lone freshmen on the team, but join the squad with stellar high school resumes.

Montana State's women's team has a variety of returners who have competed for the Bobcats in the past.

Junior Samantha Kelderman has been a mainstay in the Bobcats' lineup for two seasons while senior Madison Liechty has made appearances for MSU for three consecutive seasons. Anna French and Trisha Carlson played major roles on Montana State's runner-up squad at the Big Sky Championship in 2017, with French running in the Bobcat lineup each race and Carlson earning Big Sky Freshman of the Year honors. Last season, Gillian Maness and Kathleen Glockner were solid in their debut seasons. A variety of newcomers will be in the mix on the women's side which includes Mary Corbett, Sydney Dickinson, Rory Flinn, Megan Good, Camila Noe, Lauren Schulz and Ashlyn Ventimiglia.

"Pretty much everybody on our team had a really great summer of training," Weese said. "They're prepared from the standpoint of logging a lot of miles and being strong aerobically. That should correlate to a really good season. We had a solid preseason cross country camp, so we've got a really positive feeling about the group and expect good things from here."

The Bobcats will host the 43rd annual MSU Cross Country Classic at Bridger Creek Golf Course on Sept. 21. Montana State competes in three meets in October prior to the Big Sky Championships in Greeley, Colo., on Nov. 2. The roughly two-month long schedule leads up to the NCAA Mountain Region Championships which take place on Nov. 15 in Salt Lake City.

"I think no matter what, the first race of the year has more anxiety to it," Weese said. "Just because it's been awhile since running in a competition and you don't exactly have your routine down. I think this will be a great one to get it out of the way where we're not into the chunk of the season where any points count. This is basically the cross country preseason. It'll be nice to see a few of our kids in a full meet."