Cross Country Expects Top Times at GNAC Championships

BILLINGS, Mont. – This weekend is conference championship time for the Montana State Billings cross country team. The Yellowjacket runners head to Yakima, Wash. for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference meet on Saturday, hosted by Central Washington University.

The MSUB women’s team has been very competitive throughout the season and head coach Dave Coppock expects them to sneak up on some teams this weekend. Lisa Minnehan has been the number one runner for the Yellowjackets all season and coupled with Mykel Ler, Leah Thompson and Katie Thiel, they are expected to give MSUB good results at this years’ meet.

The men have also been running extremely well as of late. After a weekend off, the men will look to capitalize on one their strengths, running closely as a 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.

Both teams enjoyed a weekend off after running in meets for six-straight weeks. MSUB is coming off of the Yellowjacket Invitational where the women placed second and the men finished fourth. Both teams had runners turning in some of their top times this season and hope to be peak at the right time during the conference championships.

The women’s race begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday, while the men’s race is scheduled to begin shortly after the completion of the women’s race. Results will be posted on the website with a story shortly after results are received from Yakima.