Bobcat Men Finish 7th, MSU Women Place 14th at Mountain Region Championships

Friday, November 12

Provo, UT (Timpanogos GC)

11 a.m.

Montana State University

NCAA Mountain Region Championships

Duncan Hamilton

Photo by: Big Sky Conference

Bobcat Men Finish 7th, MSU Women Place 14th at Mountain Region Championships

11/12/2021 3:11:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Results

The Montana State men’s cross country team kept its national championship meet hopes alive to highlight the Bobcats’ showing at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships

By: Andrew Pedersen

PROVO, Utah – The Montana State men's cross country team kept its national championship meet hopes alive to highlight the Bobcats' showing at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships on Friday, Nov. 12, at Timpanogos Golf Club.

MSU's men's squad had three individuals earn top 20 finishes, while another two runners placed among the top 70 overall, en route to a seventh-place showing in the 10-kilometer race hosted by BYU. The finish is MSU's best at the regional since 2002, the last time the Bobcats qualified for the NCAA Championships as a team.

Duncan Hamilton, Matthew Richtman and Ben Perrin finished within 8 seconds of one another to lead the Bobcat men's squad. Hamilton (30:08.0) took 11th overall, Ricthman (30:14.5) placed 14th and Perrin (30:15.4) finished 17th.

Shoring up MSU's scoring lineup were Owen Smith and Levi Taylor. Smith completed his highest showing in the Bobcat lineup and served as a scorer for the first time in his college career by taking 66th in a time of 31:56.6. Taylor rounded out MSU's point total by crossing the finish line in 69th at 32:01.3. Also competing for the Bobcats at the regional were Riley Collins (32:52.2) and Cooper West (33:05.2) who finished 91st and 92nd, respectively.

The Bobcats totaled 177 points which tied Utah State. MSU took the tiebreaker over Utah State with the Bobcats' top three finishers earning higher individual placements over the Aggies' top three runners. Montana State's 177 points were the lowest output by a Bobcat squad since the team that advanced to the NCAA meet 19 years ago.

MSU finished ahead of two teams ranked ahead of the Bobcats in the Mountain Region rankings in Utah State and Colorado State. Both were also ranked 21st and 22nd in the latest national USTFCCCA coaches poll, respectively. Host BYU won the team competition with 42 points ahead of Big Sky champion NAU (57). Fellow Big Sky members Southern Utah (152) and Weber State (155) took fifth and sixth overall.

The Bobcat women's squad placed 14th at the Mountain Region Championships with 411 points. MSU was led by Camila Noe who took 18th in the 6-kilometer race with a time of 20:50.2. Lauren Stanford, Kendra Lusk, Mya Dube and Hannah Perrin also factored into the scoring lineup.

Stanford took 85th with a time of 22:36.2, Lusk finished 97th in 22:55.4, Dube placed 105th in 23:22.2 and Perrin came in 106th by crossing in at 23:35.1. Also running for the Bobcats were Samantha Kelderman (23:45.4) and Grace Gilbreth (23:49.4) who finished 109th and 111th, respectively.

The Montana State women's team's season concluded while the Bobcat men's squad hopes to see its name selected for the NCAA meet next Saturday. The NCAA Division I Women's and Men's Cross Country Selection Show will air this Saturday, Nov. 13 at 3:00 p.m. MT on NCAA.com.