MSU cross country races to the top at Big Sky Championships

When it comes to practicing, competing and placing, MSU’s cross country team doesn’t just run the distance — they go the extra mile. 

This past Friday, Nov. 1, the team traveled to Pocatello, Idaho to compete in the 2024 Big Sky Conference (BSC) Championships. Both the men’s and women's teams placed second overall, making this the second consecutive year the cross country team has placed top two at the BSC Championship. This achievement involved several MSU athletes from both teams securing top 10 placements. 

Ben Perrin and Kyla Christopher-Moody competed for MSU in the Big Sky events. Perrin, who placed third, completed the 8,000 meter race in 23:14.90. Christopher-Moody finished her race of 5,000 meters in 16:59.70, placing seventh. 

“We have one goal, and it’s just to go to nationals as a team,” Perrin said, attributing the men’s team’s success to the overall positive mindset of the athletes. “We’ve had some ups and downs, we’ve had some guys that have gotten injured. It’s been a bit of an interesting season so far, but everybody’s just stayed really positive and believed that we can do it.” 

Christopher-Moody echoed a similar sentiment for the women’s team. “I think a big part of our success this year is verbalizing our goals. I feel like in previous years, they’ve stayed more of an abstract idea that we’re too scared to share in case we don’t reach our goals,” she said.

Head Coach Lyle Weese agreed with the two athletes, noting that each team comes together not only to create goals but to meet them. “The team has had each other’s backs. Those individuals that haven’t been able to run [due to injuries] have been really supportive of their teammates and I think that’s been really helpful,” he said.

As a result of this success at the BSC Championship, the team feels an additional layer of pressure to perform similarly — or better — in their upcoming meets. “Two weeks from the [BSC] Championships are the Mountain Region Championships and they are in Reno, Nevada. That is the qualifier for the NCAA championships, which [are] eight days later,” Weese explained. 

Although the stakes are high for the remainder of the season, Christopher-Moody said the pressure is an extra motivator for her. “I kind of like the pressure, so I’m going to keep it — I’m not going to mitigate it.” 

Perrin agreed, saying that the team is more than prepared for their upcoming races. “We’ve been training for a while now, so I think that helps us to have less pressure. We know we’re ready to go out there and have a good race,” Perrin said.

As the season nears its end, Weese expressed his goals and intentions for next year’s season. “We’re always taking things from previous years into the next,” he said, “For the men’s team, they’ve really worked together and over the last few years, had really common goals. They’ve been working together towards those.” 

He described a similar idea for the women’s team. “Like [Christopher-Moody] mentioned, I think there have been those [goals], but we haven’t been able to verbalize them as much.  I think continuing that into future years — where people are more comfortable talking about their goals with each other — will help the team to continue to have really good seasons.” 

To learn more about the MSU cross country team, go to https://msubobcats.com/sports/mens-cross-country, or check out their Instagram @msubobcatstfxc.