Robert Peterson earns GNAC Athlete of the Week honors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu

September 8, 2015 Consecutive titles earns Peterson Athlete of the Week honors GNAC Players of the Week GNAC Release MSUB Cross Country Stack on ISSUU

Senior Robert Peterson (#132) With two races and two wins, senior Robert Peterson storms into the 2015 cross country season earning Athlete of the Week honors from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

PORTLAND, Ore. – After winning back-to-back individual titles at the Moda Health Alaska Invitational, senior Robert Peterson earns Athlete of the Week honors announced by the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tuesday.

The Billings, Mont. native and Skyview High School graduate swept the men’s titles during the first two races of the year for the Yellowjackets. MSU Billings was in Fairbanks, Alaska for two events on the Westridge Trails Nordic complex last week.

Peterson completed the 8,000-meter men’s race in 26:18.3, winning the race by 50 seconds. Two days later, Peterson captured the title on the short course, the men’s 5,000-meter race in 15:44.6, winning by 26 seconds over the secondplace runner.

“This is a great start for Robert, especially considering he put in a 100 mile week during that first week of competition,” head coach Dave Coppock said. “He is really working through the early meets well. During the races he was able to establish an early lead and run comfortably.”

Led by Peterson’s first place finish, the men’s cross country team earned the team title on Thursday by eight points (24 to 32) over Alaska Fairbanks. Seattle Pacific came in third with 79 team points.

MSUB placed runners in four of the top-5 spots during Thursday’s opening race. Followed by Peterson’s finish, sophomore Liam McKay placed third in 27:19.8, junior Garrett Love was fourth in 27:23.1, and sophomore Mark Hovland finished fifth in 27:25.1.

“Robert is really training towards the late season championship meets,” Coppock said. “He has the goal of a top-3 finish at conference and qualifying for nationals out of the west region. Even with the different distances and only having a day between the races, I was impressed with Robert’s performances. ” This week Montana State University Billings has the week off from competition. The Yellowjackets’ next meet is the Montana State University Invitational in Bozeman, Mont. on Saturday, Sept. 9.

Note: Last season Robert Peterson earned two GNAC Athlete of the Week accolades in men’s cross country. Peterson won MSUB’s first race of the season, the Carroll College Invitational, earning the first conference nod. He followed that with a third-place result at the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational, leading to his second conference honor of 2014.

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