Montana State University
Dellinger Invite
Bobcat Cross Country Heads to Eugene
10/10/2024 9:49:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Montana State travels to Oregon for Dellinger Invitational on Friday
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- In their final regular season test before the Big Sky Championships, Montana State cross country heads to Duck Country to compete at the Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday.
The men's 8-kilometer race begins at 11:15 a.m. PT/12:15 p.m. MT from Pine Ridge Golf Club, while the women's 6-kilometer race starts at 12 p.m. PT/1 p.m. MT.
Both races can be streamed online with a subscription to RunnerSpace, while live results will be carried here.
"The Dellinger meet is a really great opportunity for us," head coach Lyle Weese said. "There are teams that are really at a high level, and there's kind of a wide variety of teams—so I think it's a race that could get kind of spread out. I think it's a race that can prepare us for future races because people have to make those choices of who they're going to move with and who they're going to go with."
On the men's side, the Cats—who received six votes in the latest USTFCCCA National Coaches Poll--will get a chance to make a statement going up against No. 2 BYU, No. 22 Oregon, No. 25 Portland, and (RV) Gonzaga, among others.
Montana State's women will race against a field that includes No. 6 Utah and No. 12 Oregon.
"We're mostly just continuing on with the process," Weese said. "We of course want to go perform really well. One thing we're focusing on in both the men's team and the women's team is performing at our very best up against the highest levels of competition. This will be a good meet going up against some strong teams—to go out there and make sure that we're doing the very best we can do, and on an individual basis, maximizing our performance to help us have a great team result."
Montana State's men placed 18th out of 24 teams at the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational on September 27, showcasing their grit down three of their top seven runners and defeating a pair of ranked teams in No. 23 Iona and No. 29 Tulsa.
Rob McManus (38th), Ben Perrin (46th), and Sam Ells (68th) all finished in the top-70 to lead the Bobcats in Madison, who were down Levi Taylor, Owen Smith, and Ben Saelens.
"I think Levi is going to be back this week, so that's going to be a big boost to our men's team," Weese said.
In their last competition, Montana State's women had a strong showing at the Griak Invitational in Minnesota, taking sixth out of 17 squads.
Lindsey Paulson placed 15th to pace the way, while Kyla Christopher-Moody finished 30th and Grace Gilbreth took 42nd.
"I think we had some positive things both at the Nuttycombe and at the Griak meets, and we can build on those in this meet as we head into the conference meet," Weese said.
The 2024 Big Sky Championships will take place Friday, November 1, in Pocatello, Idaho.
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