Individual Course Records Shattered at MSU Cross Country Classic

Saturday, September 18

BOZEMAN

9 a.m.

Montana State University

MSU Cross Country Classic

Photo by: Andrew Pedersen

Individual Course Records Shattered at MSU Cross Country Classic

9/18/2021 4:50:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

MSU XC Classic Results

Montana State’s Duncan Hamilton and Camila Noe each broke their respective race record times to lead the Bobcats at the MSU Cross Country Classic on Saturday

By: Andrew Pedersen

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Montana State's Duncan Hamilton and Camila Noe each broke their respective race record times to lead the Bobcats at the MSU Cross Country Classic on Saturday, Sept. 18, at Bridger Creek Golf Course.

The meet opened with the men's 8-kilometer race and it was a tight competition between Montana State and the USTFCCCA 17th-ranked Utah State Aggies. The top nine finishers all came between the two squads and all nine times posted ranked among the 15 fastest ever in the 44th running of MSU's annual home event.

Hamilton finished 18 seconds ahead of runner-up Mark Crandall of Utah State with his final time of 24 minutes, 7.40 seconds. The Bozeman native's record topped the previous record of 24:14 that was set in 2003 by Wyoming's Mark Korir.

The Aggies eventually claimed the men's team crown by outscoring the Bobcats 24-35. Utah State had the 2-4 finishers, along with runners that took sixth and ninth overall.

MSU was boosted by a fifth-place showing from Matthew Richtman who crossed the finish line in 24:31.50. Levi Taylor took seventh in a time of 24:35.60, Ben Perrin placed eighth in a time of 24:36.50 and Rob McManus rounded out MSU's scoring lineup by finishing 16th overall in 25:20.20.

Riley Collins (25:31.90) took 19th, Cooper West (25:40.90) finished 21st and Owen Smith (25:50.00) also took 24th for the Bobcats.

"It was a good start to the year (for the men's team)," said Lyle Weese, Montana State's Dale Kennedy Director of Cross Country. "Duncan had an outstanding race and broke a course record, so that was very exciting. Matthew had a really great race, Levi and Ben were solid, their performances really led to a strong start to the season for us."

The Bobcat women's squad was paced by Camila Noe who earned the women's 5-kilometer individual title at the MSU Cross Country Classic on Saturday. Noe earned her second consecutive first-place showing at MSU's annual home meet by clocking a mark of 16:13.40. Her time broke an event record of 16:23 previously set in 1999 by Montana's Sabrina Monroe.

MSU had a variety of different athletes find their way into their scoring lineup. Mya Dube (17:07.50) finished 14th overall, Lauren Stanford (17:14.50) placed 16th, Hannah Perrin (17:26.10) took 18th and Elena Vandersloot (17:32.60) finished 25th to round out MSU's scoring lineup. Finishing among MSU's top eight runners were Alex Moore (17:54.90), Natalie McCormick (18:20.40) and Grace Gilbreth (18:25.00).

"Camila obviously had a spectacular race," Weese said. "Mya and Lauren both had really solid races as well which was great to see. We're a really young team on the women's side, 11 of our 15 women's team members are freshmen or sophomores. We're expecting to get stronger as the season progresses."

MSU's women's team placed third in the overall standings with 67 points. Utah State narrowly edged Weber State by a 31-34 margin.

The Bobcat cross country teams return to action on Friday, Sept. 24, when MSU travels to Missoula to participate in the Montana Invitational.