Saturday, October 15
Stillwater, OK
7:30 a.m. (MT)
Montana State University
at
Weis-Crockett Invite/Pre-Nats
Alex Moore
Photo by: Kyle Cajero
Pre-Nationals Race Awaits for Montana State Cross Country
10/13/2022 2:04:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
The No. 25 Montana State Bobcats and the MSU women’s cross country team will get a preview of the NCAA Cross Country Championships course in Stillwater, Okla. on Saturday.
BOZEMAN, Montana — Two weeks removed from solid showings at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, the Montana State cross country season will ramp up to the Weis-Crockett/Pre-Nationals Invitational, hosted by Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla. this Saturday.
In what will be MSU's biggest race of the regular season, 28 Division I teams will descend upon the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course — the host site of the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships. The men's 8-kilometer race is expected to start at 8:30 a.m. CT with the women's 6-kilometer race to follow at 9:20 a.m. CT.
Both programs are coming off of a solid showing at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational two weeks ago, at which the men's team placed fourth in a highly competitive field and the women's team took third in a close race. The 1-through-5 runners on the men's team finished the 8-kilometer course 18 seconds apart, whereas the women's team was bolstered by top-10 finishes from Camila Noe and Mya Dube — the latter of whom had her third top-10 cross country finish of the season.
"It will be great to see the direction of the program after the Notre Dame meet," Dale Kennedy Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Lyle Weese said. "The Notre Dame meet was a good one for our team, but both teams felt like they could still do better."
Of the Bobcats traveling to Oklahoma, only Duncan Hamilton has experience racing at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course; he did so during the 2020-21 NCAA Cross Country National Championships race. Nevertheless, Saturday will be a good preview of the Nationals course for both Bobcat teams, which have athletes poised to make postseason appearances.
"The course is a good course for both of our teams," Weese said. "For the men, the 8-kilometer course is significantly easier than the 10-kilometer course. There is a middle section in the 10K course that adds so much difficulty to the course. Still, it will be a challenging course with some ups and downs and a lot of variety. But there should be plenty of room to run the whole race since the course is wide the whole way."
In the women's race, nationally ranked teams in the latest USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll such as Cal Baptist (No. 19), Liberty University (RV), plus fellow Mountain Region teams Southern Utah, Weber State and Wyoming will help push the Bobcats.
"The women's race seems like a great mix of strong teams," Weese said. "Our women will fit right in the mix — they'll have people to chase, but it won't be an overwhelming field. It'll be a good situation for our women's cross country team."
Montana State's women's cross country team will travel to Stillwater in the wake of a breakout race. Noe was the runner-up in the Women's Gold race with a 16:57.4 5-kilometer time, but the Bobcats' team score got a lift from Dube's ninth-place finish and top-25 finishes from freshman Lindsey Paulson and sophomore Alex Moore. All three MSU underclasswomen have impressed Weese over the past few weeks of practice.
"Mya Dube has really excelled over the last few weeks, starting with her race at Notre Dame," Weese said. "She, Alex Moore and Lindsey Paulson have been training very well, which has been exciting to see."
As for the No. 25-ranked MSU men's cross country team, they will be pushed by No. 21 Arkansas and No. 29 Cal Baptist in the men's race.
"Our men's team should be near the top of the field, which is exciting," Weese said. "It'll be exciting to see how we pit up against Arkansas, Cal Baptist and Butler — who we raced previously — and some other strong teams."
Reigning Big Sky Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week Ben Perrin led Montana State's pack with a 23:47.0 5-mile time that was good for 20th out of the 182-runner field. He was one of three Bobcats under the 24-minute barrier; Duncan Hamilton (23:51.9) and Matthew Richtman (23:59.2) finished close behind in 23rd and 29th place, respectively.
But the story of the race for the men's team was its 4-through-7 runners. Senior Cooper West was a scoring runner for the Bobcats for the first time since the 2021 Big Sky Championships, finishing fourth for MSU with a 24:03.5. Levi Taylor, Rob McManus and Owen Smith rounded out the MSU runners, helping the Bobcats put all seven runners in before all 21 teams in the field.
Since that race, Weese has seen the men's team train well in preparation for this weekend. With an impressive pack time and good competition, the men's team could be poised for a national breakthrough.
"The entire group has been really solid from top to bottom," Weese said. "Individually, over the last two weeks, Duncan Hamilton has gotten his energy levels back and has put in a solid two weeks of training."
On Saturday, the men's race will go off at 7:30 a.m. MT and the women's race will follow at 8:20 a.m. MT. Live result links will be provided on the cross country teams' schedule pages on msubobcats.com.
THE RUNDOWN
In what will be MSU's biggest race of the regular season, 28 Division I teams will descend upon the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course — the host site of the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships. The men's 8-kilometer race is expected to start at 8:30 a.m. CT with the women's 6-kilometer race to follow at 9:20 a.m. CT.
Both programs are coming off of a solid showing at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational two weeks ago, at which the men's team placed fourth in a highly competitive field and the women's team took third in a close race. The 1-through-5 runners on the men's team finished the 8-kilometer course 18 seconds apart, whereas the women's team was bolstered by top-10 finishes from Camila Noe and Mya Dube — the latter of whom had her third top-10 cross country finish of the season.
"It will be great to see the direction of the program after the Notre Dame meet," Dale Kennedy Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Lyle Weese said. "The Notre Dame meet was a good one for our team, but both teams felt like they could still do better."
Of the Bobcats traveling to Oklahoma, only Duncan Hamilton has experience racing at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course; he did so during the 2020-21 NCAA Cross Country National Championships race. Nevertheless, Saturday will be a good preview of the Nationals course for both Bobcat teams, which have athletes poised to make postseason appearances.
"The course is a good course for both of our teams," Weese said. "For the men, the 8-kilometer course is significantly easier than the 10-kilometer course. There is a middle section in the 10K course that adds so much difficulty to the course. Still, it will be a challenging course with some ups and downs and a lot of variety. But there should be plenty of room to run the whole race since the course is wide the whole way."
In the women's race, nationally ranked teams in the latest USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll such as Cal Baptist (No. 19), Liberty University (RV), plus fellow Mountain Region teams Southern Utah, Weber State and Wyoming will help push the Bobcats.
"The women's race seems like a great mix of strong teams," Weese said. "Our women will fit right in the mix — they'll have people to chase, but it won't be an overwhelming field. It'll be a good situation for our women's cross country team."
Montana State's women's cross country team will travel to Stillwater in the wake of a breakout race. Noe was the runner-up in the Women's Gold race with a 16:57.4 5-kilometer time, but the Bobcats' team score got a lift from Dube's ninth-place finish and top-25 finishes from freshman Lindsey Paulson and sophomore Alex Moore. All three MSU underclasswomen have impressed Weese over the past few weeks of practice.
"Mya Dube has really excelled over the last few weeks, starting with her race at Notre Dame," Weese said. "She, Alex Moore and Lindsey Paulson have been training very well, which has been exciting to see."
As for the No. 25-ranked MSU men's cross country team, they will be pushed by No. 21 Arkansas and No. 29 Cal Baptist in the men's race.
"Our men's team should be near the top of the field, which is exciting," Weese said. "It'll be exciting to see how we pit up against Arkansas, Cal Baptist and Butler — who we raced previously — and some other strong teams."
Reigning Big Sky Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week Ben Perrin led Montana State's pack with a 23:47.0 5-mile time that was good for 20th out of the 182-runner field. He was one of three Bobcats under the 24-minute barrier; Duncan Hamilton (23:51.9) and Matthew Richtman (23:59.2) finished close behind in 23rd and 29th place, respectively.
But the story of the race for the men's team was its 4-through-7 runners. Senior Cooper West was a scoring runner for the Bobcats for the first time since the 2021 Big Sky Championships, finishing fourth for MSU with a 24:03.5. Levi Taylor, Rob McManus and Owen Smith rounded out the MSU runners, helping the Bobcats put all seven runners in before all 21 teams in the field.
Since that race, Weese has seen the men's team train well in preparation for this weekend. With an impressive pack time and good competition, the men's team could be poised for a national breakthrough.
"The entire group has been really solid from top to bottom," Weese said. "Individually, over the last two weeks, Duncan Hamilton has gotten his energy levels back and has put in a solid two weeks of training."
On Saturday, the men's race will go off at 7:30 a.m. MT and the women's race will follow at 8:20 a.m. MT. Live result links will be provided on the cross country teams' schedule pages on msubobcats.com.
THE RUNDOWN
- Montana State has the reigning Big Sky Cross Country Athletes of the Week in Ben Perrin and Camila Noe, both of whom were the Bobcats' leaders at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. The award was the first of Perrin's career and the third of Noe's career across cross country and track.
- The last iteration of the Big Sky Athlete of the Week awards marked the first time the Bobcats swept the conference's weekly cross country awards in the Weese era.
- The men's team was ranked No. 25 in the national rankings and No. 10 in the Mountain Region.
- The women's team was ranked No. 12 in the latest Mountain Region poll.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
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Big Sky Cross Country Championship Preview | Men's Team
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Dale Kennedy - Media Day | Nov. 12, 2013
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Cristian Soratos - Media Day | Oct. 22, 2013
Wednesday, October 23
