The Montana State men's and women's cross country teams will compete at the Big Sky Conference championship, Saturday, Oct. 30 at The Fairways Golf Course in Cheney, Wash.
The men's 8-kilometer race will begin at 11 a.m. (MST), with the women's 6-kilometer event following at 12 p.m.
The Bobcat men's team, who is ranked fifth in the Mountain Region, will look for a top two finish. Frontrunners Nick Atwood and Patrick Casey will look to defend their all-conference performances from last season. All-conference honors are awarded to the top 10 finishers.
Atwood, a senior from Otis Orchards, Wash., could become one of a handful of Bobcats to notch three all-conference accolades in their career. Last fall, he placed fourth overall and posted a 7th place showing in 2007.
Casey, a junior from Laurel, was ninth last season, after finishing 11th overall as a freshman.
“I like how we look heading into the meet,” said MSU head coach Dale Kennedy. “We are healthy and coming off the Pre-National race where I think we learned a lot about ourselves and what we need to do tactically.”
According to Kennedy, the men's success will come down to its Nos. 3, 4 and 5 runners, namely Seth Grossman, Dan Jackson and Carl Nystuen. Freshmen Jacob Kirk, Seth Garbett and Trevor Polson will be competing in their first league race.
“We are not just a team with a couple of guys in the lead pack,” Kennedy said. “I think the guys understand that everyone is important. We have a solid team and we expect to have a great race.”
Northern Arizona, who has been ranked as high as No. 4 this fall, is the odds on favorite to win on Saturday morning. The Lumberjacks should be followed by the Bobcats, with Weber State, Idaho State and Montana in the next group.
MSU was second to NAU in last fall's Big Sky meet.
Realistically, Kennedy has the Bobcat women's team slated for a sixth place finish, right where MSU was tabbed in the preseason Big Sky Conference Coach's poll. However, Kennedy thinks with a great race, the Bobcats could get as high as fourth place.
“The strength of our women's team has been with the pack,” Kennedy said. “We've had three different student-athletes (Heather Demorest, Rebecca Sorenson, Heather Haug) lead us in each race this season. They have done a nice job packing-up with a 30-second split, but we'll need all of them to step up at least 15-seconds on their time in order to have a fantastic race.”
Junior Heather Haug will pace the Bobcats, after leading Montana State at the Pre-National meet two weeks, ago. Last fall, Haug placed 14th overall. In addition, Haug will be joined by Demorest, Sorenson, Keely West, Tara Will, Elizabeth Narigon, Annelise Weinmann and Lauren Kuennen.
“Heather is really starting to regain the form she had during the indoor and outdoor seasons,” Kennedy said. “She is looking to break into the top 10 and earn all-conference honors.”
The Bobcats finished sixth at last year's conference championship.
