Bobcats Head to Albuquerque for NCAA Mountain Region Championships

Friday, November 13

Albuquerque, N.M.

11 a.m.

Montana State University

NCAA Mountain Region Championships

Photo by: Jordan Fetterman

11/12/2026 6:24:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Bobcats seek to qualify athletes for next week’s NCAA Cross Country Championships with strong performances on Friday

By: Pershelle Rohrer

BOZEMAN, Mont. – The Montana State cross country program continues its postseason in Albuquerque, N.M., on Friday morning, competing at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships at the UNM North Golf Course.

The Bobcats will seek to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships with strong results in Albuquerque as they compete against a stacked field at the regional meet. The women will compete in the 6k to open the meet at 11 a.m. MT, and the men will run the 10k for the first time this season at 12 p.m..

Live results from the NCAA Mountain Region Championships will be available here. The meet will not be live streamed.

"Our teams have had a lot of success over the years on this course in Albuquerque and are looking forward to being back there competing on Friday," Dale Kennedy Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Lyle Weese said. "The men and women have come so far since the start of the season and have seen drastic improvement. They are hungry to compete well and place higher than we are ranked in the latest region poll."

The Competition: Montana State will compete as part of an 18-team field on the women's side and a 17-team men's field in Albuquerque on Friday.

No. 1 BYU leads the women's field, with No. 6 Northern Arizona, No. 7 New Mexico, No. 9 Colorado, and No. 16 Utah completing a group of five nationally ranked teams competing at the UNM North Golf Course on Friday. Those five teams complete the top five in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Mountain Region rankings. Montana State checks in at No. 10 in the women's rankings, with Wyoming, Utah Valley, Utah State, and Air Force occupying the six through nine slots and Colorado State (11), Weber State (12), New Mexico State (13), Texas Tech (14), and Southern Utah (15) completing the top 15. Nevada, Northern Colorado, and UTEP will also compete in Albuquerque to round out the field.

On the men's side, No. 1 New Mexico, No. 2 Colorado, No. 6 BYU, and No. 20 Northern Arizona check in as the four nationally ranked teams and the top four teams in the USTFCCCA Mountain Region rankings heading into the meet. Air Force occupies the No. 5 slot, while Montana State enters the meet at No. 6. Utah State, Weber State, Wyoming, and Utah Valley rank seventh through 10^th, while Colorado State, Southern Utah, New Mexico State, Texas Tech, and Nevada complete the top 15. Montana and UTEP are also set to compete, bringing the men's field to 17 teams.

Bobcat Competitors: Montana State has 12 men and 11 women currently entered in Friday's meet, with each team slated to field a seven-person lineup on race day.

The pool of Bobcat men currently entered to compete are Tyler Blair, Eli Boppart, Pierre Carlier, Harvey Cramb, Sam Ells, Ryan Harrington, Camden Houchin, Niko Mann, Race Morrell, Quinn Newman, AJ Ringert, and Blaise Snow.

For the women, Montana State's group of seven will include a combination of Caroline Fender, Samantha Geraets, Annie Kaul, Eva Koos, Sofia Ledermann, Addi Lilyquist, Kensey May, Niamh Motley, Claire Rutherford, Kaitlyn Skinner, and Quinn Stranahan.

What's at Stake: Montana State will seek to send athletes to the NCAA Cross Country Championships for the first time since 2023 with strong performances on Friday. The Bobcat men last qualified for the national meet as a team in 2023, while the women's team last punched its ticket in 1995. Camilla Noe was the most recent Bobcat woman to qualify individually, advancing to the NCAA Championships in 2019.

To qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, Montana State must finish in the top two in Albuquerque on Friday to earn an automatic bid to the national championships. Following the NCAA Regionals, 14 at-large teams will be selected to join the two automatic qualifiers from each of the nine regional meets as part of the 32-team field at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. A group of 38 individuals will also qualify for the meet, with the top four individual competitors at each regional not on an advancing team earning automatic bids to the meet, along with the two highest placing individuals at a regional who were not automatic qualifiers. The NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 21.

Last Time Out: Montana State posted a pair of runner-up finishes at the Big Sky Cross Country Championships on Oct. 30, with the men's team tallying 71 points and the women accumulating 77 points at Buffalo Park in Flagstaff, Ariz. Newman highlighted the Bobcats' performance with a fifth-place result in the 8k, clocking a personal-best time of 24:02.0, while Rutherford led the Montana State women with a personal-best 5k time of 16:42.5 for a 12^th-place finish. All five Bobcat scorers in each race finished in the top 25 in a successful showing in Flagstaff.

Bobcats in the Polls: Montana State remained sixth (men) and 10^th (women) in the most recent USTFCCCA Mountain Region ranking, released on Nov. 2. The Bobcat men's sixth-place ranking marks their highest since week two of the 2024 season, while the Bobcat women matched their 10^th-place ranking from week one of the 2025 campaign.

Up Next: Bobcats who qualify will conclude their season at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday, Nov. 21.

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For the latest news, updates, and behind-the-scenes coverage of the Montana State cross country program, follow the Bobcats on Twitter and Instagram at @MSUBobcatsTFXC. Information on the Montana State athletic program can be found online at msubobcats.com or by following the Bobcats on Twitter at @MSUBobcats, Instagram at @MontanaStateBobcats, and on Facebook at Montana State Bobcats.