Montana State Cross Country will compete at the NCAA Mountain Championship on Saturday, Nov. 12 in Provo, Utah. The 19-team event, hosted by Brigham Young, showcases the top runners in the region, including six from the Big Sky Conference.

The Montana State Women finished fourth at the Big Sky Championship just two weeks ago after retaliating against a sixth place preseason ranking from the Conference. Riding the momentum of one their best finishes since 2006, the Bobcats will look to land one, if not two runners on the all-region team. Headed into the meet, the women are ranked 13^th in the region. Last year, the Bobcats finished 19^th overall.

Heather Haug, finished fourth at the Big Sky meet, earning her first cross country all-conference nod. With the capacity to continue to improve, as she has all season and throughout her career, she holds a legitimate shot to finish among the top-25 in Provo.

“This meet will arguably be one of our biggest challenges this season,” said head coach Dale Kennedy. “I truly believe that if the conditions are right, though, we could come back to Bozeman with a few all-region student-athletes.”

After a 50^th place finish her first season at the Big Sky meet, Keely West literally ran her way to a seventh place performance two weeks back. West could also be a contender among the top-25 runners on Saturday.  

Colorado, the 2012 Pac-12 champion, comes into the meet with the highest ranking, followed by New Mexico and Texas Tech. Weber State, the 2011 Big Sky Champion is sixth.

The Montana State men have also rostered a few all-region contenders. Jacob Kirk and Seth Grossman, who have been the leaders of the pack this season, finished ninth and 10^th, respectively.

“Our men haven't run a 10K yet this season,” said Kennedy. “But this course should hopefully be an easy adjustment for us in terms of how we've been training. The most important thing for the men is that they run a disciplined race.”

In 2010, MSU finished ninth overall at the meet last year and travels to Provo ranked 12^th in the region headed into Saturday.

Meet host, BYU holds the top spot in the men's regional poll, followed by Colorado, who recently won the Pac-12 meet in their first year of membership. Big Sky Conference Champion, Northern Arizona holds at third.

The Men's 10K is slated for an 11 a.m. start and the Women's 6K will begin at 12:15 p.m.