Bobcats Ready for NCAA Mountain Regional on Friday
11/9/2023 1:17:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Montana State men's and women's cross country each with the opportunity to make history at the biggest meet of the season in Lubbock, Texas
LUBBOCK, Texas – Everything is bigger in Texas, including the size of the stakes of tomorrow's NCAA Mountain Regional Championship races for Montana State's cross country teams.
Strong performances at Friday's meet at Lubbock Christian Cross Country Course in Lubbock, Texas, could mean history in the making, as the men go for a second straight berth to the NCAA Cross Country Championships and the women look to book a ticket to the national meet for the first time since 1995.
The women's 6K race will get underway at 10 a.m. CT/9 a.m. MT, while the men's 10K race will begin at 11 a.m. CT/10 a.m. MT. Live results will be available here.
The meet, hosted by Texas Tech, will feature twenty women's squads and nineteen men's squads each vying for the two automatic berths to NCAA's that are handed out on each side. The Mountain Region is the toughest region in collegiate cross country, featuring five top-25 men's programs and six top-25 women's programs, including No. 1 Northern Arizona and No. 3 BYU.
For the first time this season, the MSU men will be running the ten-kilometer distance that will be the same at the national meet next Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia.
MSU head coach Lyle Weese says a top-five finish at Friday's race for the men should be enough to earn them a second consecutive at-large berth to NCAA's. The Bobcat men placed fifth last season in Albuquerque on the way to their first trip to the national championships since 2002.
"The Mountain Region is the best region in NCAA cross country, so we'll definitely have our hands full with a lot of great teams, but we are excited for the challenge," Weese said. "Our men's team really has to shoot to get into the top five as a team, and that should set us up with a chance to make it to the NCAA Championships. Our women's team also has an outside chance if we can move up to sixth or something like that. In the end, it's all about each individual having the best race that they can have. Whether it's a stepping stone to the national meet, or the end of their season, just having an effort they can be really proud of."
In addition to top-3 opponents Northern Arizona and BYU, the Cats will also be going head-to-head with No. 19 New Mexico, No. 23 Colorado, and No. 24 Air Force.
The Bobcats, ranked in the USTFCCA poll for most of the season and currently ranked sixth in the latest Mountain Region Poll, will most likely have to finish in front of one of those foes to earn a trip to Charlottesville, Virginia, next Saturday. MSU is currently the first team listed in the receiving-votes section of the USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll, effectively ranked as the No. 31 team in the country.
Last year, Duncan Hamilton finished third and Matthew Richtman placed fourth to lead the Bobcats to earn All-Region honors at the Mountain Regional Championships. Ben Perrin (34th) and Levi Taylor (45th) represented two other scoring runners for MSU that will do so again on Friday.
The Bobcat men are coming off a runner-up finish at the Big Sky Championships in Missoula two weeks ago. Perrin took third and Richtman finished sixth to highlight the individual performances, while Rob McManus, Owen Smith, and Sam Ells went 12-13-14 to round out the top five for Montana State.
On the women's side, a deeper field means the Cats will probably need to finish at least sixth in order to have a good chance at hearing their name called during Saturday afternoon's NCAA Selection Show.
Montana State's women checked in at No. 8 in the last USTFCCA Mountain Region Poll, their highest ranking of the season. Nationally ranked teams including No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 3 BYU, No. 13 Colorado, No. 20 Utah, No. 22 Utah Valley, and No. 27 Colorado State will all be in the mix on Friday.
MSU's women have not made a trip to the NCAA National Championships since 1995, but have at least a shot at doing so if things break their way in Lubbock.
It has already been a season to remember for the Bobcat women, as they come off a runner-up finish at the Big Sky Championships in Missoula two weeks ago, their highest finish since 2017 and the second-highest since 1999.
Kyla Christopher-Moody and Grace Gilbreth finished ninth and tenth, respectively, to earn All-Big Sky accolades, and led a balanced team effort that saw all eight Cats competing to place inside the top-22.
"I think the confidence level is pretty high because of how consistently the teams performed at conference," Weese said. "From top to bottom for the men's and women's rosters, they all went in there and performed well. I think anytime you have consistency, it kind of indicates that there could be a breakout or potential to take it to that next level."
MSU's men have made the national meet twice (2002, 2022), and the women once (1995).
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