Peterson takes GNAC Athlete of the Week honor

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October 19, 2015 Peterson earns GNAC Athlete of the Week honor after 4th win this season

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Senior Robert Peterson earned his second GNAC Athlete of the Week honor this season.

Senior Robert Peterson earns his second GNAC Athlete of the Week honor in men’s cross country this season after a good result during the Yellowjacket Battlin’ Bear Dual last week.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Senior Robert Peterson was honored as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week in men’s cross country for the second time this season announced by the conference office Monday.

The Billings, Mont., native and Skyview High School graduate earned the accolade after winning his fourth competitive race this season, helping MSUB to the team title against fellow Billings’ institution Rocky Mountain College. The two schools raced each other in the Yellowjacket Battlin’ Bears Dual last Thursday, Oct. 15 at Riverfront Park.

“Robert ran a real controlled race and helped pull our 1-5 pack together and was still able to take a victory,” MSUB head coach Dave Coppock said on the past week’s Yellowjacket Battlin’ Bear Dual. “We didn’t want to run all-out last week, but rather get in a good tune-up before the GNAC championships this week.”

Peterson helped the Yellowjackets finish with 15 total points, taking the dual meet from Rocky by a margin of 31 (15-46).

MSU Billings placed runners in the 1-2-3-4-5-7-10 scoring spots in the victory.

Peterson won the 4-mile race in 20.03, covering the course on an average 5-minute mile.

“Robert was starting to get a little bit of a cold last week and was really getting overloaded with schoolwork, but his training continues to go well and he’s feeling pretty good as we approach his final GNAC Cross Country Championship,” Coppock continued. “He’s worked very hard this year this will be one of his key championship races coming up, so I think he’s right on schedule.”

Peterson’s honor bookends the regular season as he won his first GNAC Athlete of the Week honor this year after winning back-to-back individual titles at the Moda Health Alaska Invitational during the first week competition.

After traveling to Fairbanks, Alaska, in early September Peterson completed the first 8,000-meter men’s race in 26:18.3, winning by a margin of 50 seconds. Two days later, he captured the title on the short course, the men’s 5,000-meter race in 15:44.6, winning by 26 seconds over the second-place runner.

Two weeks later, Peterson won the Montana State University Invitational in Bozeman, Mont., against a range of runners from across the region, including competition from NCAA Division I and the NAIA. With less than a week until the conference championships, Peterson will take to the GNAC course this Saturday.

“Robert has really been 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.”

UP NEXT: MSU Billings is on the road for the GNAC Championship being held Saturday, Oct. 24 at 10:00 a.m. Hosted by Western Washington, the race will be run on a course at Lake Padden Park.

THE BUZZ: 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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