Cross Country Set to Host Yellowjacket Invitational

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings cross country team is set to host the Yellowjacket Invitational this Saturday, Oct. 10, at Riverfront Park starting at 10 a.m. with an open invitation at 9 a.m. This will be the only home meet for the Yellowjacket runners this season.

“I’m very excited about the race this weekend,” said head coach Dave Coppock. “Anytime you can host a larger meet on your home course is nice. I think that we’re coming off of some of our best performances of the year last week in Boulder and the teams are making big improvements on their times. If we consistently keep getting better, we should be putting up competitive times at the conference meet.”

With expected temperatures in the 20’s and a forecast of snow to fall during the race, both the men’s and women’s races could produce exciting finishes. With both teams running in close packs all season, expect the MSUB runners to help pull each other throughout the race.

The women’s race will feature an eight team field that will include around 80 runners. The Yellowjackets will look to Lisa Minnehan to lead the pack and have a repeat performance from Boulder where she finished in the top-15 with a time of 23:42. Also expected to contribute will be Mykel Ler, Leah Thompson and Katie Thiel, who are coming off of top-25 performances a week ago.

The men’s race will have close to 94 runners in the field and host nine teams. The Yellowjacket men are coming off of an eighth place finish last week in one of the top team performances of the year. Daniel Lombardi is coming off of a 27th place finish a week ago and has been one of the top runners this season.

One of the strengths for the men’s team has been their ability to finish in a close group. All season long, Mark Bolt, Tyson Vanderby, Taylor Canfield, Ryan Blomback, Travis Hutchinson and Travis Buttelman have finished in close proximity to one another leading to better results. The group will look to push each other this weekend and try to finish higher in the standings.

The Yellowjacket Invitational is the final tune-up meet for MSUB before the highly competitive Great Northwest Athletic Conference meet on Saturday, Oct. 24, hosted by Central Washington. That meet will be run in Yakima, Washington starting at 10 a.m.