Yellowjacket Runners off to Heartland Championships (10/19/05)

BILLINGS, MT – The Montana State-Billings men’s and women’s cross-country teams will be the first Yellowjacket teams to compete for a Heartland Conference championship when they run at the conference championship meet this Saturday.  This is the university’s first year in the Heartland Conference, and the cross-country championship meet will crown the first champions of the 2005-2006 academic year.

The championships will be held on the campus of Dallas Baptist University on Saturday morning.  The women’s 6K race is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. CDT with the men’s 8K starting at approximately 9:50 a.m.  The top 10 finishers in each race will be named all-conference.

The conference championships will be the fifth race for the Yellowjackets this season.  They will host Dickinson State in a dual meet at Riverfront Park on October 29 before competing at the NCAA South Central Regional in Abilene, TX, on November 5.

The Lady Yellowjackets have been led this year by freshman Susan Kocab (Billings, MT).  She has been the team’s top finisher in three of its four races, including a top 40 finish at the highly competitive Rocky Mountain Shootout in Boulder, Colo.  Last year’s Heartland Conference champion in the women’s race ran the 6K in 24:34.  Kocab finished the 5.8K Rocky Mountain Shootout in 24:35 three weeks ago.  In the final tune up two weeks ago, Kocab placed sixth at the Idaho State Invitational, running the 4K race in 17:11.

The Lady Jackets’ second and third runners most of the season have been Cierra Dornfeld (Fr., Woodbury, MN) and Tiffany Piplica (Jr., Riverton, WY).  Dornfeld placed 68^th at the Rocky Mountain Shootout in 26:01, while Piplica placed 79^th in 27:01.  The favorites in the women’s team competition will likely be Lincoln and St. Mary’s.  Those teams finished first and third respectively last year with Lincoln capturing four of the top 10 individual places.

The Yellowjacket men’s best hope at an all-conference placer is junior Sam Hartpence (Custer, SD).  Hartpence finished 61^st at the 8K Rocky Mountain Shootout in 29:25.  Last year’s Heartland Conference champion in the 8K crossed the line in 28:09.  At last year’s PacWest Conference championships, Hartpence placed seventeenth in 28:23.  That race was run at Riverfront Park in Billings, approximately 3100 feet above sea level.  The elevation of Dallas is less than 1000 feet.

The top four finishers in last year’s Heartland Conference men’s race were from Drury University, which has since left the Heartland for the Great Lakes Valley Conference.  Drury was also the conference team champion.  The favorites for Saturday’s race will likely be Dallas Baptist and Oklahoma Panhandle.