Saturday, November 20
Tallahassee, FL (Apalachee Regional Park)
9:10 a.m.
Montana State University
at
NCAA Championships
Pictured: Matthew Richtman (1973) and Duncan Hamilton (1970)
NCAA Championship Appearance in Sight For MSU’s Hamilton & Richtman
11/17/2021 10:50:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Montana State runners Duncan Hamilton and Matthew Richtman are looking to put their best cross country showings of the fall together on Saturday when the two compete at the NCAA Division I Championships in Tallahassee
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Montana State runners Duncan Hamilton and Matthew Richtman are looking to put their best cross country showings of the fall together on Saturday when the two compete at the NCAA Division I Championships in Tallahassee, Fla. The men's 10-kilometer race the Bobcats participate in at Apalachee Regional Park begins at 9:10 a.m. MT.
The two shined at the Mountain Region Championships on Nov. 12 in Provo, Utah. Hamilton took 11th overall with a time of 30 minutes, 8 seconds, to lead the Bobcat men's team. Richtman followed by taking 14th crossing the finish line in 30:14.5. Hamilton and Richtman helped lead the squad to a seventh-place finish in the team standings at the regional championships, one of the program's best appearances at the meet.
Their overall goal wasn't satisfied, however, with the Bobcats narrowly missing out on qualifying as a group. Ben Perrin was one of the members who also nearly made the NCAA meet individually, as he was an All-Big Sky performer and earned USTFCCCA All-Region accolades for his 17th place finish in Provo.
But both Hamilton and Richtman are taking their trip to Tallahassee in stride.
"I'm looking forward to finally being able to race everybody in the NCAA and see how I stack up in the country," said Hamilton. "It was a bittersweet end to the season as a team, we wanted to make it as a group. Even so, we had three Bobcats in the top 20, two going to nationals. The program is building, maybe not quite as fast as we wanted, but we'll be there next year."
Hamilton will be making a return to the NCAA Championships after appearing last spring for the first time in his college career. Richtman makes his first national meet showing on Saturday.
"It's definitely something I've been thinking about for awhile," Richtman said of racing at the NCAA meet. "It still hasn't really sunk in that it's happening. I'm excited to see what will happen and it's incredible to be racing with Duncan. We'll have each other to support, be able to bounce ideas off each other and be able to represent Montana State together."
Montana State's Dale Kennedy director of the program, Lyle Weese, saw glimpses of how the team has developed over the past few years during last week's regional meet. Though the entire team was unable to qualify, Weese said there's plenty more for the men's team to improve on as Hamilton and Richtman gear up for the NCAA Championships.
"It was very exciting to have three individuals run so well at the Mountain Region Championships," Weese said. "When you look at how they placed against some of the very best teams in the country, the top three, they compared very favorably. That was a good sign of the direction where we're headed. With nobody graduating, to bring this team together and add in some of the young guys with more development, we're looking forward to bringing a team to the NCAA meet in future years."
While the entire fall has been focused on as a team for the Montana State men's cross country squad, this Saturday has the attention turned to individual efforts. Hamilton, who is an All-American in both indoor and outdoor track and field, hopes to improve on his 110th place finish at his last NCAA Cross Country Championship. He's utilizing the national meet experience as a positive as he gets ready to race.
"I'm super excited," said the Bozeman native. "I've said it in the past, it can be difficult to do super well at a meet when you're just getting to that level. Having seen this already, knowing what to expect, the excitement of just getting there for the first time is over. I've got bigger goals this year."
Richtman has had quite a whirlwind calendar year having just joined the Montana State program ahead of the 2021 spring semester. Prior to his arrival in Bozeman, Richtman spent two years at Bradley University and was 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Freshman of the Year.
Though his move west to the Gallatin Valley also featured an increase in talent level to compete against, it has helped the MSU distance runner continue to personally develop. Now, he'll be running against the best in the nation on Saturday.
"I haven't even been here a year yet, so it's crazy how fast things have been going," Richtman said. "It's huge to get to this point. I definitely feel pretty close to the team which is great. We had a little bit of an off day at regionals, but we've been training all year for this, so I'm ready to go."
Weese said the goals of each Bobcat runner varies as the two get set to travel to the Florida State-hosted event. Though each have provided a bit of history as Richtman is MSU's 12th men's runner to advance the national championships and Hamilton is the Bobcats' second ever men's runner, joining Shannon Butler, to advance to two NCAA cross country meets.
"I think if you look at how they placed at the regional, it's not out of the question for both of them to get a top-40 All-America finish," Weese said. "I think it's a little different for them both. Duncan has been competing at a high level since last outdoor season and Matt has really broke through as of late.
"Duncan has been to NCAA meets before, so his goal is certainly All-American and maybe even higher in the top 40. Matt is really trying to build off the momentum of a real great race he had at regionals. He's had a breakthrough season for him the entire year, but then he reached another level of guys that are some of the very best runners in the NCAA that he was running with this past week."
The NCAA Championships will be broadcast starting at 8 a.m. MT on ESPNU and on WatchESPN.com that have a cable subscriber with ESPNU. Live results are available online here.
The two shined at the Mountain Region Championships on Nov. 12 in Provo, Utah. Hamilton took 11th overall with a time of 30 minutes, 8 seconds, to lead the Bobcat men's team. Richtman followed by taking 14th crossing the finish line in 30:14.5. Hamilton and Richtman helped lead the squad to a seventh-place finish in the team standings at the regional championships, one of the program's best appearances at the meet.
Their overall goal wasn't satisfied, however, with the Bobcats narrowly missing out on qualifying as a group. Ben Perrin was one of the members who also nearly made the NCAA meet individually, as he was an All-Big Sky performer and earned USTFCCCA All-Region accolades for his 17th place finish in Provo.
But both Hamilton and Richtman are taking their trip to Tallahassee in stride.
"I'm looking forward to finally being able to race everybody in the NCAA and see how I stack up in the country," said Hamilton. "It was a bittersweet end to the season as a team, we wanted to make it as a group. Even so, we had three Bobcats in the top 20, two going to nationals. The program is building, maybe not quite as fast as we wanted, but we'll be there next year."
Hamilton will be making a return to the NCAA Championships after appearing last spring for the first time in his college career. Richtman makes his first national meet showing on Saturday.
"It's definitely something I've been thinking about for awhile," Richtman said of racing at the NCAA meet. "It still hasn't really sunk in that it's happening. I'm excited to see what will happen and it's incredible to be racing with Duncan. We'll have each other to support, be able to bounce ideas off each other and be able to represent Montana State together."
Montana State's Dale Kennedy director of the program, Lyle Weese, saw glimpses of how the team has developed over the past few years during last week's regional meet. Though the entire team was unable to qualify, Weese said there's plenty more for the men's team to improve on as Hamilton and Richtman gear up for the NCAA Championships.
"It was very exciting to have three individuals run so well at the Mountain Region Championships," Weese said. "When you look at how they placed against some of the very best teams in the country, the top three, they compared very favorably. That was a good sign of the direction where we're headed. With nobody graduating, to bring this team together and add in some of the young guys with more development, we're looking forward to bringing a team to the NCAA meet in future years."
While the entire fall has been focused on as a team for the Montana State men's cross country squad, this Saturday has the attention turned to individual efforts. Hamilton, who is an All-American in both indoor and outdoor track and field, hopes to improve on his 110th place finish at his last NCAA Cross Country Championship. He's utilizing the national meet experience as a positive as he gets ready to race.
"I'm super excited," said the Bozeman native. "I've said it in the past, it can be difficult to do super well at a meet when you're just getting to that level. Having seen this already, knowing what to expect, the excitement of just getting there for the first time is over. I've got bigger goals this year."
Richtman has had quite a whirlwind calendar year having just joined the Montana State program ahead of the 2021 spring semester. Prior to his arrival in Bozeman, Richtman spent two years at Bradley University and was 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Freshman of the Year.
Though his move west to the Gallatin Valley also featured an increase in talent level to compete against, it has helped the MSU distance runner continue to personally develop. Now, he'll be running against the best in the nation on Saturday.
"I haven't even been here a year yet, so it's crazy how fast things have been going," Richtman said. "It's huge to get to this point. I definitely feel pretty close to the team which is great. We had a little bit of an off day at regionals, but we've been training all year for this, so I'm ready to go."
Weese said the goals of each Bobcat runner varies as the two get set to travel to the Florida State-hosted event. Though each have provided a bit of history as Richtman is MSU's 12th men's runner to advance the national championships and Hamilton is the Bobcats' second ever men's runner, joining Shannon Butler, to advance to two NCAA cross country meets.
"I think if you look at how they placed at the regional, it's not out of the question for both of them to get a top-40 All-America finish," Weese said. "I think it's a little different for them both. Duncan has been competing at a high level since last outdoor season and Matt has really broke through as of late.
"Duncan has been to NCAA meets before, so his goal is certainly All-American and maybe even higher in the top 40. Matt is really trying to build off the momentum of a real great race he had at regionals. He's had a breakthrough season for him the entire year, but then he reached another level of guys that are some of the very best runners in the NCAA that he was running with this past week."
The NCAA Championships will be broadcast starting at 8 a.m. MT on ESPNU and on WatchESPN.com that have a cable subscriber with ESPNU. Live results are available online here.
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
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