Friday, September 30
South Bend, Ind.
9:15 a.m.(MT)
Montana State University
at
Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite
Matthew Richtman
Photo by: Kyle Cajero
Bobcat Cross Country Races at Notre Dame’s Joe Piane Invitational
9/28/2022 12:57:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Both Montana State cross country teams will head to Indiana for their biggest races of the season so far on Friday.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Competing at its biggest race of the season thus far, the Montana State University cross country program will travel to South Bend, Ind. for Notre Dame's Joe Piane Invitational, held at the Burke Golf Course on Friday.
The men's team is set to compete in the Blue 5-mile race, which takes place at 9:15 a.m. MT, while the women's team will toe the line in the Gold 5K race at 11:30 a.m. MT. Links to live results can be found on the men's and women's cross country teams' schedule pages on msubobcats.com.
Friday will be MSU's most competitive race to date. The men's Blue race includes five nationally-ranked teams in the latest USTFCCCA polls — including the No. 22 Bobcats — and six teams that qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships last season. A total of 21 teams will toe the line in the men's Blue race.
Meanwhile, the women's race will feature 19 teams, including five that are ranked in their respective regions: Cal Poly (West), Central Michigan (Great Lakes), Montana State (Mountain), Nebraska (Midwest) and Pittsburgh (Mid-Atlantic).
"Both of the men's and women's teams are so excited to compete at Notre Dame against a larger field," Dale Kennedy Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Lyle Weese said. "We compete against the Mountain Region quite a bit, so this will be a nice opportunity for us to get some quality competition and see how we stack up against the other regions."
Both Bobcat squads are coming off winning their home MSU Cross Country Classic on Sept. 17. Led by Duncan Hamilton and Ben Perrin's neck-and-neck finish, the men's team finished 1-through-7 with a perfect score of 15 points. All seven runners finished the 5-mile course in under 25 minutes.
On the women's side, junior Camila Noe won MSU's home meet for the third time in her career, covering the 5-kilometer course in 16:28.2. The women's team had its 2-through-5 runners finish 17.4 seconds apart to seal the win.
"We're fortunate to have some outstanding frontrunners, but we're excited to have a deeper pack this year," Weese said. "Our four-through-eight runners this year are already stronger than our four-through-eight runners from last year. At a meet like this, five seconds might be a difference of 20 places in the middle of the pack. We're excited about how strong our pack is on both teams."
The men's race will begin at 9:15 a.m. MT while the women's race is set to start at 11:30 a.m.
THE RUNDOWN
MOVING ON UP
The men's team is set to compete in the Blue 5-mile race, which takes place at 9:15 a.m. MT, while the women's team will toe the line in the Gold 5K race at 11:30 a.m. MT. Links to live results can be found on the men's and women's cross country teams' schedule pages on msubobcats.com.
Friday will be MSU's most competitive race to date. The men's Blue race includes five nationally-ranked teams in the latest USTFCCCA polls — including the No. 22 Bobcats — and six teams that qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships last season. A total of 21 teams will toe the line in the men's Blue race.
Meanwhile, the women's race will feature 19 teams, including five that are ranked in their respective regions: Cal Poly (West), Central Michigan (Great Lakes), Montana State (Mountain), Nebraska (Midwest) and Pittsburgh (Mid-Atlantic).
"Both of the men's and women's teams are so excited to compete at Notre Dame against a larger field," Dale Kennedy Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Lyle Weese said. "We compete against the Mountain Region quite a bit, so this will be a nice opportunity for us to get some quality competition and see how we stack up against the other regions."
Both Bobcat squads are coming off winning their home MSU Cross Country Classic on Sept. 17. Led by Duncan Hamilton and Ben Perrin's neck-and-neck finish, the men's team finished 1-through-7 with a perfect score of 15 points. All seven runners finished the 5-mile course in under 25 minutes.
On the women's side, junior Camila Noe won MSU's home meet for the third time in her career, covering the 5-kilometer course in 16:28.2. The women's team had its 2-through-5 runners finish 17.4 seconds apart to seal the win.
"We're fortunate to have some outstanding frontrunners, but we're excited to have a deeper pack this year," Weese said. "Our four-through-eight runners this year are already stronger than our four-through-eight runners from last year. At a meet like this, five seconds might be a difference of 20 places in the middle of the pack. We're excited about how strong our pack is on both teams."
The men's race will begin at 9:15 a.m. MT while the women's race is set to start at 11:30 a.m.
THE RUNDOWN
- The men's race features five nationally-ranked teams, plus the No. 22 Bobcats: No. 14 Notre Dame, No. 24 Butler, No. 25 Alabama and No. 27 Michigan.
- Friday marks the first time MSU cross country has competed in the Hoosier State since the 2019 Pre-Nationals race in Terra Haute.
- The women's race will be a Billings Senior reunion of sorts, as former high school teammates Elena Vandersloot and Nebraska's Jade Hallgrimson will toe the line against each other for the first time as collegians.
- Matthew Richtman is the only Bobcat with experience racing at the Burke Golf Course, having competed at the 2019 Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational as a member of Bradley men's cross country team. Richtman will compete against his former team on Friday.
MOVING ON UP
- The men's team stayed put at No. 22 in the national rankings and No. 5 in the Mountain Region.
- The women's team was ranked No. 10 in the latest Mountain Region poll.
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
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