Montana State University
MSU Bobcat Twilight
Cross Country Kicks Off Season with MSU Bobcat Twilight
8/29/2024 4:03:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Annual season-opener in Bozeman gets started at Dyche Field with the men at 7:20 p.m., women at 7:45 p.m.
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Montana State cross country kicks off their 2024 season on Friday evening, hosting the annual MSU Bobcat Twilight meet at Dyche Field in Bozeman.
The men's race gets underway at 7:20 p.m., while the women's race will start at 7:45 p.m.
Friday's races will feature a flat one-kilometer loop on the grass practice field adjacent to Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, with both men and women completing five laps.
"The team is excited to get the season started," head coach Lyle Weese said. "It's fun to start at home with a meet like this that's kind of low-key and right on campus, so they're excited and ready to go."
Live results can be found here. Admission to the meet is free.
Boise State, Montana, Montana State-Billings, Carroll College, Montana Western, Montana Tech, and Dawson Community College will all send teams to compete in the Treasure State-heavy affair.
"It's interesting having more teams here at this meet," Weese said. "When we started this meet, it wasn't really our intention to host more than two or three teams out there, but it will add a lot to the meet having more teams. We're excited to get the season started and see how we go out there and compete against teams of a wide variety of levels."
Montana State's men enter the fall ranked No. 25 in the USTFCCCA Preseason Coaches' Poll after bringing back eight of the top nine runners from a team that finished 13th at the NCAA Championships last year.
Veterans Ben Perrin (53rd at NCAA's) and Levi Taylor (138th) are back for one final rodeo, with experienced returners Owen Smith (72nd), Rob McManus (165th), Sam Ells (183rd), and Harvey Cramb (231st) rounding out a core group of scoring runners.
The Bobcat men are ranked fifth in the USTFCCCA Preseason Mountain Region poll and were picked to finish second behind No. 4 Northern Arizona in the Big Sky from a vote by the conference's coaches
Montana State's women are looking to build off their best season since 2017 after coming in second at the Big Sky Championships and 11th at the NCAA Mountain Regional meet last November.
The Bobcat women return a pair of All-Big Sky honorees in Kyla Christopher-Moody (9th at Big Sky Championships) and Grace Gilbreth (10th), as well as 2023 scoring contributors Alex Moore (14th) and Kendra Lusk (22nd), with sophomores Annie Kaul and Eva Koos also bringing back experience as top-eight MSU runners.
MSU was slotted 12th in the USTFCCCA Preseason Mountain Region poll and picked to finish second in the Big Sky by the conference's coaches, behind only national No. 1 Northern Arizona.
Friday will see the first collegiate action for ten freshmen that enter their first fall on campus, with six women and four men toeing the line under the setting sun in Bozeman.
"For the freshmen, it'll be fun to run in their first college race," Weese said. "It'll be fun to see how they react. They have all run a lot of cross country races of similar distance, so I think they'll feel pretty comfortable—it'll be some new surroundings, new elements, but generally I think they should adjust really well."
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