Montana State University
Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite
Bobcat Harriers Register Top 10 Finishes at Notre Dame's Joe Piane Invitational
9/29/2023 11:05:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Ben Perrin, Kyla Christopher-Moody pace MSU
Junior Ben Perrin led the Bobcats' men's effort, finishing 11th (23:44.3), while classmate Owen Smith checked in at 15th (23:53.9). Kyla Christopher-Moody (17:02.7) led the Bobcat women by finishing 21st, while junior Mya Dube finished 38th (17:25.0).
Full results can be found here.
Notre Dame won the men's race with 87 points, while Florida State (95), Alabama (114), North Carolina State (174) and Michigan State (177) rounded out the top five. MSU scored 257 points to finish ninth, finishing ahead of Weber State (280), the only other Big Sky entry. Top-ranked North Carolina State captured the women's team title with 44 points, followed by the Fighting Irish (53). Alabama (73), UC Davis (152) and Florida State (182) completed the top five. MSU's 247 points placed the team in 10th, ahead of Big Sky rival Weber State.
Both races featured a bevy of top-25 teams, setting up fierce competition and hard racing that was fitting for one of the more prestigious meets on the collegiate cross country calendar.
"Both teams went out there and they ran hard with pretty great efforts," head coach Lyle Weese said. "Just like at every cross country meet there were some highs and lows, but it was a great experience for our student-athletes."
Bobcat men's team finishers: 11) Ben Perrin 23:44.3; 15) Owen Smith 23:53.9; 51) Matthew Richtman 24:27.8; 88) Rob McManus 24:55.4; 98) Levi Taylor 25:03.5; 110) Sam Ellis 25:16.9; 125) Harvey Cramb 25:31.7; 140) 26:08.9; 141) Michael Schumacher 26:11.7.
In his first race of the season working back from an injury, Taylor turned in a solid performance to land as MSU's fifth and final scoring runner.
Bobcat women's team finishers: 21) Kyla Christopher-Moody 17:02.7; 38) Mya Dube 17:25.0; 49) Emma Tate 17:33.3; 67) Kendra Lusk 17:53.3; 74) Elena Vandersloot 17:59.6; 82) Annie Kaul 18:03.1; 85) Alex Moore 18:05.3; 87) Grace Gilbreth 18:05.8; 125) Eva Koos 18:58.3.
"With the guys' team, I think you look at how Ben [Perrin] and Owen [Smith] did, with running really well in an outstanding field, and they have teammates that train with them and are usually right there with them," Weese said. "The rest of the team can have some confidence in how well Ben and Owen were able to do in this field, and then take that into our next meets and put together a good team race. For the women, it's similar with Kyla [Christopher-Moody]—just an outstanding individual race, and Mya Dube ran really well also, so similarly we have a lot of our team that trains with them, so I think that they should take from this meet some confidence that they train with people that competed really well at this meet."
Up NextMontana State's next action comes at the Pre-Nationals Meet hosted by Virginia on October 14.
Players Mentioned
