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September 19, 2015 Three-peat: Peterson wins Montana State Invitational Individual Results Team Finish List Detail Team Report MSUB Distance on Facebook MSUB Cross Country on ISSUU
Senior Robert Peterson won the 2015 Montana State University Invitational.
MSUB’s Robert Peterson completes a three-peat at the MSU Invitational, winning the overall race for his third consecutive title this season. BOZEMAN, Mont. – Building on the momentum of two races and two titles, Robert Peterson completed a three-peat today as the senior won the Montana State University / Bozeman Running Company Invitational, cruising to the finish line more than 15 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. Peterson was up against more than 90 runners at the MSU-hosted event and was racing against NCAA Division I teams including Utah State and Montana State whose men’s teams rank among the top-12 in the mountain region, with USU sitting at 11 and MSU at 12. Individually, Peterson was up against several runners that advanced to the NCAA Championships last fall.
“This was a great win for Robert today,” MSUB head coach Dave Coppock said. “He had a real comfortable lead and seemed to feel pretty good the whole way. It wasn’t one of his fastest times, but I am excited for his win. He beat a good field, including some excellent Division I runners.” Last year, Peterson placed 13th overall in the 5-mile distance in 25:57.93. Today, the Billings, Mont., native shaved his time down to 25:43.25, finishing ahead of runner-up Colby Wilson from Utah State who finished the course in 26:05.03. MSUB placed sixth overall as a team. Utah State won the team title with 45 points, placing its top finishers in the 2-7-913-14 spots. Host Montana State placed second with 77 points, and Idaho State was third with 87 points. Montana (87), Carroll College (108) were ahead of the Yellowjackets who finished with 126 points. Rocky Mountain College (230), Montana Western (278), and Montana State Northern (317) rounded out the team scores. The Yellowjackets placed runners in the 1-22-30-41-42 spots for their top-5 finishers. Behind Peterson, junior Garrett Love completed the course in 26:49.45, senior Matt Winter checked-in at 27:01.86, sophomore Liam McKay was the fourth finisher for the Yellowjackets in 27:32.33, and moving up into the fifth spot for MSUB was freshman Tyus Mendoza who ran the race in 27:35.01. For his efforts, Mendoza was selected the St. Vincent Healthcare Athlete of the Meet. “On our men’s team we had some illness creeping in unfortunately, which hampered our overall results, but we did have some good performances,” Coppock said. “Tyus Mendoza, a freshman moved up. He was our fifth runner and is coming along really well this season.” “Overall it was a good race,” Peterson said. “I took the lead at the start and kept the momentum flowing through the whole race. At the beginning it is a little hilly for the first mile and then there are grass loops around the course. I felt today there was some good competition at the event with some really good runners which makes for a fun race.” “I feel I had a good performance,” Peterson continued. “I was a little shy of my time-goal, but I am really happy with the win. I think I have good momentum right now, so I am happy with that. I am hoping to keep this streak going with a good performance at the Griak.” Next Up: MSU Billings travels to St. Paul, Minn., next week for the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota. The Griak is the largest event MSUB will compete in this season. The men’s team will race in the Division II competition, an 8K run on the Les Bolstad Golf Course against more than 30 NCAA D2 teams and 400 individual entrants from around the region. Last year, then-junior Robert Peterson was in a photo-finish for second place. --@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--