Cats finish second at Big Sky XC Championships

POCATELLO, Idaho – Montana State Cross Country delivered two outstanding team performances at the Big Sky Cross Country Championships Friday in Pocatello, with both the men and women taking second place for the second straight year.

The Cats' second-place finish marks the second time since 1992 that both teams finished in the top two at the same conference meet (2023).

The full results can be viewed here.

“I thought we had really good results,” said head coach Lyle Weese said. “Even more than the results, I thought we delivered incredible performances across the board. The seven that started in the men's race and the eight that started in the women's race – they really did their best and competed well. They didn’t allow anything else.” They just did their best. It's exciting to get good results, but it's even more exciting to do great across the board.

On the men's side, a quartet of Bobcats in the top 11 pushed the Cats to an easy second team finish.

No. 8 Northern Arizona captured its 11th Big Sky title in the last 13 years, finishing 1-2-5-8-9 with 25 points.

(RV) Montana State finished second with a record of 3-6-7-11-22 and finished with 49 points, handily beating third-place Weber State (68 points).

The 49 points were the third-lowest team total since 2002, surpassed only by the Cats' 41 points in 2022 and 45 points in 2023.

Montana State has now finished in the top two in three consecutive Big Sky Championships, a first in school history.

Kalispell native Ben Perrin delivered another outstanding performance at his most recent conference championships, placing third in singles for the second straight year and leading the Cats. The veteran joins Steve Bishop (1977-81) and former teammate Duncan Hamilton (2019-22) as the only Bobcat men to earn All-Big Sky honors in four cross country seasons.

“It means a lot to me to finish my final conference cross country race with this team and I’m really happy to have finished all conference,” Perrin said. “We had a lot of ups and downs this year, especially with some of our top players being out with injuries, but the entire team handled it really well and we have a lot of momentum heading into regionals.”

Perrin placed sixth in both 2021 and 2022 and placed third in 2023 and 2024.

Fellow native of Kalispell Sam Ells took sixth place overall, crossing the finish line for the eight-kilometer race in 23:37.8. Last season's Big Sky Freshman of the Year stayed in the top six throughout the race, getting off to a fast start and keeping pace with the leading group.

Rob McManus was the third Bobcat to earn All-Big Sky honors, finishing seventh with a time of 23:39.8. The Kashmir, Wash., native joins Perrin and Ells to become the first trio of Bobcat men to finish in the top seven in the conference since the Cats last won the Big Sky title in 2002.

“It was so exciting to have those three in the top ten,” Weese said. “And then Will Kelly He was also tenths of a second shy of the top ten. It was really exciting to have four guys there running to the front of the race.”

PhD student Will Kelly finished 11th, just one spot shy of the overall conference honors.

Second semester Harvey Cramb was the fifth and final runner to cross the finish line for Montana State, finishing 23rd. Eli Boppart took 29th place, while Michael sSchumacher took 32nd place.

In the second race of the day, the Montana State women impressed with a balanced team effort, scoring 7-9-10-13-15 to take second place and finish with 54 points – their lowest total since the Big Sky last won title in 1995 (40 points).

No. 3 Northern Arizona won its fourth straight title, finishing with a perfect score of 15 points with a record of 1-2-3-4-5-(6).

Second-place Montana State finished with 54 points, well ahead of third-place Weber State, which finished the day with 78 points.

It is the second straight year the Cats have placed second – the first time since 1994-1995 that the Bobcat women have placed at least second at the championship meet in consecutive seasons.

Kyla Christopher Moody took advantage of a late surge to finish seventh individually after placing ninth in Missoula a year ago. The three-time Big Sky Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week completed the five-kilometer course in 16:59.7 and covered the final mile at a remarkable 5:19 pace. The graduate student receives All-Big Sky honors for the second year in a row.

The Bozeman native joined her again on the All-Big Sky team Grace Gilbrethwho finished tenth overall in a time of 17:13.9. Gilbreth followed up her 10th-place finish in Missoula last year with another top ten finish – she stayed in the top ten for every mile of the race.

Christopher-Moody and Gilbreth are the first pair of Bobcat women since Theresa Zacher and Kathleen Monaghan in 1986-1987 to earn All-Big Sky honors together in consecutive seasons.

“Grace and Kyla raced really well today,” Weese said. “They have shown good racing all season. They are definitely leaders on our team, running well in training, performing well in competitions and also setting the tone for the team.”

Lindsey Paulsona Belt native, finished 11th and just one spot from all-conference honors. The No. 3 MSU runner crossed the finish line Friday in 17:25.5.

Bozeman native and senior Alex Moore Weese ran what Weese called “probably her best cross-country race ever,” finishing as the fourth Bobcat to place 14th in 17:41.1.

Second semester Annie Kaul placed 16th and finished the race as the fifth and final runner with a time of 17:51.1, which helped keep Bobcat's point total to a minimum and kept the field close together.

senior Hannah Perrin 26th place, newcomer Madi Siana was 29th and a freshman Niamh Motley took 45th place.

NEXT

Montana State travels to Reno, Nevada for the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships hosted by the University of Nevada on Friday, November 15th.

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