Bobcat Cross Country Releases 2023 Schedule
8/3/2023 10:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Men's and women's squads will compete in five meets before Big Sky Championships in Missoula
BOZEMAN, Montana – Dale Kennedy Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Lyle Weese announced the 2023 cross country schedule on Wednesday, featuring five meets leading up to the Big Sky Conference Championships, which will take in Missoula on October 27.
The men's team looks to follow up on their runner-up finish last season at the conference championships, which marked the fourth time in the last five years the men have placed in the top-four in one of the toughest distance conferences in the country.
For the first time since 2002, the Montana State men's cross country program made a trip to the NCAA National Championships and rose to as high as No. 18 in the national rankings.
The women's squad placed third last year at the conference meet in Cheney, Washington, finishing with six Bobcats inside the top-32 to mark the fifth time under Weese that they had earned a top-three finish.
The 2023 season gets underway on September 1 with the annual MSU Bobcat Twilight Classic, held on the MSU practice fields outside Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
Two weeks later on September 15, the Bobcats will make the drive to Missoula to participate in the UM Invite and get a preview of the course they'll be returning to in late October for the Big Sky Conference Championships.
On September 29, Montana State heads back to the Joe Piane Invite in South Bend, Indiana, hosted by the University of Notre Dame.
Last season, the women broke through with a big third place finish at the same meet, beating out several Power Five teams, while the men took fourth in a competitive race that saw them only finish behind three squads that were each either ranked or receiving votes in the USTFCCCA polls.
The following weekend, the teams return to the Treasure State on October 6 for the MSUB/Rocky Mountain College Invite, hosted in Billings.
One final stop before postseason action takes the Bobcats across the country to Charlottesville, Virginia, for Pre-Nationals on October 14, hosted by the University of Virginia on the same course that the NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held on.
At last season's Pre-Nationals event, the Bobcats asserted themselves in the national rankings with a men's first-place team finish that was led by Duncan Hamilton's individual meet champion result.
The 2023 Big Sky Conference Championships will be held on October 27 in Missoula
The NCAA Mountain Regional will take place in Lubbock, Texas, on November 10 and will be hosted by Texas Tech. Last fall, the Montana State men placed fifth as a team, with Hamilton and Matthew Richtmann going 3-4 individually.
Qualifying runners advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships, held in Charlottesville, Virginia, on November 18.
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