MSUB men's cross country looking to make impact at GNAC Championships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu October 22, 2015 Men’s cross country looking to make an impact at GNAC Championships

MSUB men’s cross country is headed the conference Championships this Saturday on the course at Lake Padden Park.

MSUB Distance on Facebook MSUB Cross Country Stack on ISSUU GNAC Release GNAC Program Championship Central The MSUB men’s cross country teams is heading for the GNAC Championships this Saturday at Lake Padden Park in Washington.

BILLINGS, Mont. – It has all been leading up to this weekend. With thousands of miles under their belts this season, the MSU Billings men’s cross country team has arrived at postseason racing, and is looking to make an impact at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships being held this Saturday, Oct. 24 at Lake Padden Park in Bellingham, Wash.

With two team wins, including one against fellow GNAC opponents Alaska Fairbanks and Seattle Pacific, the Yellowjackets have good experience for the 2015 team, but head coach Dave Coppock knows how strong the conference competition is this season.

“The top-3 men’s teams in our conference are so tough,” Coppock said. “Alaska Anchorage, Simon Fraser, and Western Washington have really good teams. Anchorage basically returns all of its runners from last season and looks great so far this year.”

Anchorage returns four of its top-7 runners from its championship winning team last season. The Seawolves have two perfect races of 15 points this year and are ranked No. 5 in the nation by the USTFCCCA Division II Coaches Poll. The team contains a quartet that includes the 2014 conference runner-up in senior Dominik Notz.

Simon Fraser is ranked No. 12 in the national poll and returns five of its top-7 runners, including junior Oliver Jorgensen, who placed sixth last year at the conference race.

Western Washington comes into the championships ranked No. 21 in the USTFCCCA poll and has the advantage of racing on its home course. The Vikings have three runners that have finished in the top-5 in big races this season and look to be a factor on the familiar course.

Montana State University Billings is being led by senior Robert Peterson. The Billings, Mont., native has won four races this season and finished no worse than fourth in every event this year. The Skyview High School graduate won his first three races of the year, including two in Alaska and one in Bozeman, Mont., against west region contenders that included competition from D1 schools. At the Roy Griak Invitational, Peterson placed fourth in the University of Minnesota event that saw over 390 entrants.

Last year, Peterson finished fourth at the GNAC Championships and is certainly in the mix for a conference title this season.

MSUB placed fourth as a team last year at the GNAC Championships – its second-best showing at a conference championships. The Yellowjackets return all but one runner from its top-5 finishers last year.

Sophomores Liam McKay and Jorey Egeland along with junior Garrett Love were all part of the 1-5 finishers for the ‘Jackets.

McKay has had two third place finishes this season. Love has moved around during the season, but last week finished third at the dual meet against Rocky. Egeland has been improving week-to-week and had a great showing at the Yellowjacket Invitational placing third for the team and eighth overall on the 8,000 meter course at Amend Park.

Also a factor this season has been senior Matt Winter. Another Billings, Mont., native, Winter placed second behind Peterson at the Yellowjacket Invitational and fifth overall. Sophomore Mark Hovland placed fifth during the first race in Alaska and 14th at the MSU Invitational. Both Winter and Hovland have held significant scoring positions for the Yellowjackets this season.

Freshman Tyus Mendoza is looking to make his mark this Saturday. Mendoza finished fourth for the team at the Yellowjacket Invitational and has moved up nicely his first season in a Yellowjacket uniform.

The GNAC will be providing live coverage of the meet this season through the outlet Periscope. Periscope is a social media app that allows people to live stream from their smartphone, but can also be viewed from a cell phone or on a regular computer.

The GNAC’s Periscope channel is https://www.periscope.tv/GNACsports. To find out when the stream will be live, fans can follow the GNACSports Twitter account for updates. The men’s championships are scheduled for an 11:00 a.m.

Pacific time start.

A listing of the full results plus a recap will be available at msubsports.com following the conclusion of the race.

--@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--