The Montana State Men's Cross Country team was named an All-Academic Team by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Thursday. The Bobcats earned a 3.52 cumulative team GPA and posted the fourth highest GPA in NCAA Division I. MSU ranked behind Southern Illinois, Miami (Fla.) and Southeast Missouri State.
Three other schools from the Big Sky Conference earned academic honors including, Idaho State, Northern Arizona and Weber State.
“I am really impressed with the academic performance by the men,” said head coach Dale Kennedy. “For our program to rank as high as we did academically is just outstanding.”
Montana State is one of 152 teams in Division I to earn All-Academic Team honors. To qualify as a USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country Team, the team must have a cumulative team GPA of 3.00 or better and have started at least five regional at their respective NCAA regional championship.
The Montana State Men's Cross Country team sent seven runners to the NCAA Mountain Region Championship in Salt Lake City and finished in ninth place. Patrick Casey led the Bobcats, finishing 12th in the field with a time of 30:17 in the 10K course. Nick Atwood was MSU's second finisher, placing 38th (31:05). He was followed by Seth Grossman, 44th (31:16), Dan Jackson, 59th (31:44), Carl Nystuen, 64th (31:52), Trevor Polson, 91st (33:07), and Jacob Kirk, 92nd (33:14).
