History Made: Bobcat Men’s Cross Country Earns Ticket Back to NCAA Championships
11/11/2023 5:49:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
Montana State selected for at-large bid to NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships for second consecutive year
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- On Friday, the Montana State men's cross country team had a good feeling they had done enough--Saturday, it was made official. For the third time in school history, Montana State men's cross country is headed to the NCAA Championships.
Earning one of just 13 at-large bids handed out on Saturday by the NCAA DI Cross Country Subcommittee, the Bobcats punched their ticket to the national meet for a second consecutive season.
One year after breaking a twenty-year drought with a trip to NCAA's for the first time since 2002, the Bobcats will be headed right back to the big stage, traveling to Charlottesville, Virginia, for Saturday's national meet held at Panorama Farms.
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— Montana State TF/XC (@MSUBobcatsTFXC) November 11, 2023
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"We talked a lot about it on the ride home yesterday—it's awesome for us to go back again," redshirt junior Ben Perrin said. "It almost feels more special this time—last year we kind of knew we were in a really good spot to make it all year, but this year there was a little more uncertainty. We started out a little bit slower but slowly progressed throughout the year, so being able to make it back is great for the program and shows that we're trending in the right direction and can hopefully keep building on what we have going."
The men's ten-kilometer race is scheduled for 11:10 a.m. ET, and will be televised on ESPNU and streamed on the ESPN app.
On Friday, Montana State's men, ranked sixth in the latest USTFCCCA Mountain Region Poll and the first team out of the National Coaches' Poll, knew they essentially needed to upset No. 23 Colorado and place fifth at the NCAA Mountain Regional in Lubbock, Texas, to put themselves in a good position for an at-large berth. Behind a complete team performance that saw all five scoring runners finish in the top-50, the Cats did just that.
Ben Perrin placed tenth and Matthew Richtman finished 21st to earn All-Region honors.
Owen Smith placed 28th, Rob McManus took 34th, and Levi Taylor finished 42nd to round out the scoring runners, with Sam Ells right behind in 45th.
Head coach Lyle Weese was a student-athlete on the 2002 team that became the first Bobcat team to qualify for nationals, and has now coached the ticket-punching Cats in each of the last two seasons.
"The exciting thing for me as a coach is that we're able to back up last year's performance and get a return trip to the NCAA Championships," Weese said. "There's over 300 teams in Division I cross country, and they take 31, so we're really excited to be one of those 31."
WE'RE IN.
— Montana State TF/XC (@MSUBobcatsTFXC) November 11, 2023
Bobcats are Virginia-bound ??#NCAAXC23 | #GoCatsGo pic.twitter.com/OhbpgLod6t
Last year at the NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the Bobcat men placed 25th out of 31 teams, with Matthew Richtman becoming the program's third All-American courtesy of a 40th place finish, the fourth-best individual result at the national meet in MSU history.
Five of the top six finishers for the Cats at last year's national meet returned to Bozeman this fall to try again, and will now be rewarded with another trip to the biggest stage in collegiate cross country.
"We all took a lot from that race last year," Perrin said. "We needed to get out aggressively, we need to be able to relax a little bit during the race too. It's a really tough, different meet, so we really took a lot—not only from just that single race, but throughout the season, and we're really excited to go back and get a little revenge because we know we can do better this year."
UP NEXT
Montana State departs for Charlottesville, Virginia, to participate in the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Saturday, held at Panorama Farms.
The men's ten-kilometer race will begin at 11:10 a.m. ET, and will be televised on ESPNU and streamed on the ESPN app. Live results can be found on msubobcats.com.
#GoCatsGo
