Montana State University
Big Sky Championships
Bobcat Men Place Second, Women Third at the Big Sky Cross Country Championships
10/28/2022 10:29:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Four Montana State cross country runners earned All-Big Sky Conference honors, which is the most the program has had since 2019.
CHENEY, Wash. – For the first time since 2013, both Montana State cross country teams placed in the top three of the Big Sky Cross Country Championships, which were held at the Fairways Golf Course in Cheney, Wash. on Friday.
The men placed second with 41 points behind No. 3 Northern Arizona, which won the meet with 19 points. Meanwhile, the MSU women placed third with 92 points, finishing behind No. 4 NAU's 22 points and runner-up Idaho's 69 points.
In the men's race, Hamilton (3rd, 23:05.0), Perrin (6, 23:23.9) and Richtman (8th, 23:39.6) led the way as the Bobcats' All-Big Sky honorees. For the women, Camila Noe (10th, 16:43.2) earned her fourth All-Big Sky Conference honor to help the Bobcats place third. MSU's four all-conference awardwinners were the program's most since 2019, when the Bobcats also placed four on the All-Big Sky team.
"I think one thing both our teams can take away from this race is to expect anything," Dale Kennedy Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Lyle Weese said. "Some races can come out fast, others can start out slow, and I thought both of our teams did a great job of adapting to what came to them."
The highly anticipated matchup between Northern Arizona and Montana State saw plenty of white jerseys up in the front of the pack. The men's race was honest from the jump, as eventual winner Nico Young led the front pack of MSU and NAU runners through the first kilometer in 2:47. While Young led wire-to-wire, Hamilton and NAU's Drew Bosley ran stride-for-stride through the first five kilometers before the latter pulled away in the final stage of the race. Hamilton would finish in third with a personal-best 8-kilometer time of 23:05.0.
Meanwhile, Perrin was on Hamilton's heels, leading a pair of Lumberjacks through the first half of the race. Perrin wound up in sixth place with a personal-best time of 23:23.9 to earn his second All-Big Sky nod. Rob McManus had an aggressive start as Cooper West, Richtman and Levi Taylor packed up close behind. Richtman and West made big moves late, as the former would cross the line in eighth place in 23:39.6, while the senior West — who was running in his final Big Sky Conference race — finished with a personal-best 8K time of 23:59.2 to place 11th.
"I thought Duncan, Ben and Matt had great races, and I think Cooper had his best collegiate race," Weese said. "I thought Rob McManus had a great race too. It was exciting to see them all perform so well as we head into the Mountain Region next week."
McManus rounded out MSU's scoring runners by placing 13th with a time of 24:04.2, making him the third-fastest sophomore of the race. Taylor placed 19th in 24:30.9, while Owen Smith gave MSU seven runners in the top 25 by placing 25th in 24:41.3. Riley Collins finished close behind in 32nd in 24:53.3.
All told, six of the eight MSU men ran 8-kilometer personal bests.
The women's race was the opposite of the men's race. Camila Noe, Northern Colorado's Regina Mpigachai and Idaho's Mya Kobylanski tried pushing the pace from the early goings, yet the rest of the chase pack wouldn't bite. With less than two kilometers to go, a wall of NAU runners made their move. By the time the race finished, six Lumberjacks would place in the top 10, and eight would finish in the top 15. Noe would battle with the front pack to finish in 10th place in 16:43.2.
In the chase pack, Mya Dube, Lindsey Paulson and Ava Weems packed up, then made a big move into the top 25 midway through the race. Dube would cross the line in 17:12.2, which was good for 16th place and her best finish at a conference meet.
Paulson and Weems finished five seconds apart in 17:26.4 (21st) and 17:31.8 (22nd), respectively. With her time, Paulson was the third-fastest freshman in the race. Meanwhile, Weems made the most of her only Big Sky Championship experience by placing fourth for the Bobcats, which is her highest team finish of the season.
Alex Moore rounded out the Montana State scorers by placing 27th in 17:45.0, while Elena Vandersloot finished close behind in 31st place in 17:52.7. Alexis Palmer was MSU's seventh runner with a time of 19:29.0.
"For the women, we had a big improvement over last year, so it was exciting to move up the standings," Weese said. "I thought we competed well as a team and put ourselves in a really good position to end up with a solid place."
For the women's team, both seniors gave it their all in their final Big Sky Conference race, according to Weese.
"Camila and Ava have been great leaders all year long," Weese said. "They've really helped the entire team improve and I think that's how we've come from sixth to third in the span of a year. We've had great leadership this year, and they've been a great part of it."
Dube, Palmer, Paulson and Weems set collegiate-best cross country 5K times.
"I thought Ava had her best race of the year, so that was really exciting," Weese said. "For Mya, the last three cross country races she has had have been the best three races of her entire running career, which was really good to see."
Northern Arizona swept the individual titles in both races, as Nico Young and Elise Stearns won the individual titles. NAU's Colin Sahlman was the Big Sky Men's Freshman of the Year, while Northern Colorado's Regina Mpigachai was the Big Sky Women's Freshman of the Year.
THE RUNDOWN
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Noe joins Kathleen Monaghan (1986-89) as the only Bobcat women to earn all-conference honors four times. At the time, Monaghan and Montana State competed in the Mountain West Conference, making Noe the first to be a four-time all-conference awardwinner in the Big Sky era.
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Hamilton joins Steve Bishop (1977-81) as the only male MSU cross-country runner to earn All-Big Sky Conference honors four times.
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With Cooper West and Riley Collins running personal-best times, the men's team has five men who have gone sub-24 minutes in the 8K and eight who have broken the sub-25 barrier.
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The Montana State women's team holds a six-year streak of having at least one All-Big Sky conference honoree. This ties the men's program for the longest streak between both genders, as the men's team accomplished the same feat from 2000-05.
UP NEXT: The Bobcats' last guaranteed cross country race is the NCAA Mountain West Regionals, held in Albuquerque, N.M. on Friday, Nov. 11. Should the Bobcats qualify for the NCAA National Championships, they will make a return trip to Stillwater, Okla. on Saturday, Nov. 19.
