Hamilton, Noe Lead Bobcats at Big Sky Cross Country Championships

Saturday, February 27

Riverdale, UT (Riverside GC)

1:15 p.m.

Montana State University

Big Sky Conference Championships

Photo by: Sam Bloom

Hamilton, Noe Lead Bobcats at Big Sky Cross Country Championships

2/27/2021 4:17:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Online Results Men's 8K Results Women's 5K Results

Montana State had two runners complete all-conference performances as the Bobcats wrapped up action at the 2021 Big Sky Winter Cross Country Championships on Saturday

By: Andrew Pedersen

RIVERDALE, Utah – Montana State had two runners complete all-conference performances as the Bobcats wrapped up action at the 2021 Big Sky Winter Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Feb. 27, at Riverside Golf Course. The MSU women's squad completed a third-place showing and the Bobcat men finished fourth.

"It was pretty special to be able to go out there and compete in a conference championship again," said Lyle Weese, Montana State's director of cross country. "I think our team was probably a little bit more nervous than usual because they haven't competed in a meet like this in over a year. It was a big mental challenge for them, but I thought they responded well to it."

The Montana State women's team was led by Camila Noe who completed her second all-conference performance of her college career. After winning the Big Sky Women's 5K Championship as a freshman in 2019, Noe placed fourth with a time of 17 minutes, 23.3 seconds. Taryn O'Neill of Northern Arizona finished first by crossing the line in 16:59.9.

"I thought Camila had a really nice performance today" Weese said. "Obviously she has high expectations because of her past accomplishments, but for where she's at and kind of the unusual year that it's been, I thought she ran a great race."

The MSU women earned their fourth top-three finish in the Big Sky team standings in the previous eight seasons. The third-place showing at the 2021 Winter Championships is the Bobcats' best since the 2017 meet.

Seniors Anna French (18:09.2) and Trisha Carlson (18:10.0) finished 13th and 14th, respectively. French earned her best showing at a Big Sky meet by nearly 20 spots while Carlson had her highest finish since taking 12th overall as a freshman.

MSU's scoring lineup was completed by freshmen Mya Dube and Alex Moore. Dube placed 30th in a time of 18:40.5 and Moore took 33rd overall clocking in at 18:45.9. Samantha Kelderman (18:58.3) placed 38th, Lexi Kyro (19:05.2) took 41st and Lauren Stanford (19:20.9) placed 46th to round out the Bobcat roster.

"That was really exciting for them to move up in the conference rankings," said Weese as MSU's women's team was picked to finish fifth in the Big Sky Coaches' Preseason Poll. "I thought it was really a step forward. If you look at all eight of the women that ran in the race, I think they all ran pretty solid. I think they represented Montana State really well."

Northern Arizona won the team title recording 27 points. Weber State earned runner-up honors with 73 points, while Montana State (90) finished ahead of Southern Utah (93) and Idaho (130).

Montana State's Duncan Hamilton claimed his second all-conference performance of his Bobcat cross country tenure. Hamilton earned a silver medal in the Men's 8K Championship finishing in a time of 23:58.1, less than three seconds behind Big Sky champion Abdihamid Nur (23:55.6) of Northern Arizona.

Hamilton earned the Bobcat men's team's highest individual finish since 2002 when Casey Jermyn won the Big Sky title.

"It's been so fun to watch Duncan break through to that next level," Weese said. "He ran the great mile race just two weeks ago and now he broke through and put together a great cross country race. It really indicates that he could be one of the best runners in the NCAA."

All five scorers in the Bobcat lineup placed in the top 25 of the individual standings. Collin Buck finished 20th with a time of 25:05.8. Matthew Richtman, who made his cross country debut as a Bobcat, took 22nd registering a mark of 25:13.0. Freshmen Ben Perrin (25:18.4) and Levi Taylor (25:21.1) placed 24th and 25th, respectively.

Rounding out the Bobcat men's roster were Cooper West and Isaac Schmidt. West took 31st in a time of 25:37.4 and Schmidt followed at 26:30.5 to take 53rd.

"I thought overall we had a lot of solid performances on the men's side," Weese said. "That was great to see."

Southern Utah upset the Northern Arizona men's squad to claim the Big Sky title by narrow margin of 35 to 38 points. Weber State (67) finished ahead of Montana State (93), while the closest foe to the Bobcats was Portland State as the Vikings tallied 161 points.

MSU's team showing was its third consecutive top-four finish at the Big Sky Cross Country Championships.

The Big Sky Conference meet serves as the conclusion of the season for cross country runners not selected to participate in the NCAA Championships. The NCAA meet is slated to take place in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on March 15.