Montana State University
Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational
MSU Men Place 18th at Nuttycombe Invitational
9/28/2024 3:42:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
Shorthanded Bobcats compete well alongside 17 other ranked teams in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday
MADISON, Wisc. -- Down three of their top seven runners, the 25th-ranked Montana State men's cross country team gritted out a challenging race against some of the nation's best teams on Friday, placing 18th at the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin.
Shorthanded due to injury, the Bobcats held serve and showcased their depth in taking 18th in a race that featured 17 of the top-30 teams in NCAA Division I.
"I thought overall we performed pretty well," head coach Lyle Weese said. "We competed really well across the board so I was generally pretty happy with how the team went out there and competed. It's hard to know for sure if that performance will end up being beneficial to us to get into the NCAA Championships. The good news is that there's always other avenues as well. For today, I thought we had some people break through like Rob McManus. We had some other really solid performers—Ben Perrin was solid again, Sam Ells moved up throughout the race, as well as Will Kelly. It was a great start for the team here and we're excited for future races."
Redshirt junior Rob McManus led Montana State with a 38th place finish, helping keep the Cats on track with what his head coach called "probably the best cross country race that he's ever run."
"It seemed like he really took it upon himself in this race to just have a lot of confidence and really go for it," head coach Lyle Weese said. "It just appeared like he knew that he should be there, so I think that helped carry him through the performance—that confidence and that taking of responsibility helped him today break through."
The two-time steeplechase All-American never wavered, getting out to a lightning quick start and checking in at 37th through the first two kilometers, 39th through four kilometers, 31st through six kilometers, and 38th at the eight-kilometer finish line.
Star sixth-year senior Ben Perrin ran with McManus nearly the entire race, ending up in 46th after climbing as high as 29th at the six-kilometer mark.
Redshirt sophomore Sam Ells backed up his win at the MSU Bobcat Twilight in August with a 68th place finish on Friday, starting near the back of the pack in 143rd through two kilometers before passing 75 competitors ahead of the finish line.
Graduate transfer Will Kelly finished 104th, while sophomore Harvey Cramb rounded out the scoring runners in 145th.
Finishing in 18th with 397 points, Montana State placed ahead of nationally ranked No. 23 Iona (419 points) and No. 29 Tulsa (412 points).
No. 2 BYU took the team title with 44 points, followed by No. 5 Iowa State with 108 points.
The Bobcats are hopeful they made progress towards potentially earning a third straight at-large bid to the NCAA Championships—which will be hosted in November again at the same Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison they raced on Friday.
UP NEXT
Montana State's cross country teams are next in action on October 11, when they travel to Eugene, Oregon, to participate in the Dellinger Invite hosted by the University of Oregon.
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