Montana State Cross Country competed at the Penn State National meet on Friday. The Bobcat men finished in an impressive fifth place among 21 teams and the women took 10th out of 29. (Men's Results | Women's Results)
Meet host Penn State took the men's team title with 47 points. MSU finished with 177 points behind Grand Valley State (Mich.), Duquesne (Pa.) and Lehigh (Pa.). West Virginia was the women's champion with 35 points.
Seth Grossman led the Bobcats with an 11th place finish overall with a time of 26:59. Grossman has been the top finisher for Montana State in two out of three meets this season.
The first four MSU men completed the 5.2 mile race within 23 seconds of each other. Behind Grossman was Jacob Kirk, who crossed the finish line in 27:01 for 15th place. Trevor Polson took 23rd in 27:15 and newcomer Jake Turner clocked in at 27:21 in 26th.
Rounding out the Bobcat Men's squad was Forrest Jarvi (102nd, 29:06), Seth Garbett (109th, 29:18) and Matthew Tex (116th, 29:42).
The overall men's medalist was Ryan Blood with a time of 26:13, who competed unattached.
“To have our top four guys finish within 23 seconds of each other is very promising for the rest of the season,” said head coach Dale Kennedy. “Grossman's race was arguably his best collegiate cross country race to date.”
In the women's 6K, Heather Haug, in her second meet of the season, paved the way for Montana State. The junior placed 27th in a field of over 265 runners, with a time of 22:21.
Heather Demorest notched the second-fastest time for MSU with 22:57 in 52nd place. In 75th was sophomore Keely West who crossed the finish line in 23:18. ReBecca Sorenson also finished among the top-100 with a time of 23:35 in 85th place.
Closing out the final three spots for the Bobcat Women were Lauren Kuennen (116th, 24:09), Emily Garneau (147th, 24:52) and Nicole Tester (159th, 25:14).
“Heather's finish among the top-30 is a heck of an accomplishment in this field,” said Kennedy. “Even with the intense rains, we ran well as entire program and this really gives us a positive outlook headed in the Big Sky Championship.”
Montana State will take two weeks off from competition to gear up for the 2011 Big Sky Conference Cross Country Championship meet on Oct. 29. The race will take place in Pocatello, Idaho at the Centennial Course.
