MSU Billings Hosts Yellowjacket Invitational and Fun Run Saturday (Oct. 26, 2004)

BILLINGS, MT – Coming off a strong showing at the Pacific West Conference Championships last weekend, the MSU Billings cross-country teams will host their annual Yellowjacket Invitational and Fun Run on Saturday at Riverfront Park.

The 5K fun run will begin at 9:00 a.m. followed by the college race at 10:00 a.m.  The cost of the fun run is $15 with proceeds benefiting Yellowjacket Cross-Country.  Registration begins at 7:30 at the southwest shelter at Riverfront Park.  The 5K course will loop around Lake Josephine.

The college race will include runners from MSU Billings, Black Hills State, Dickinson State, Flathead Valley CC, Northwest CC, Yellowstone Baptist College, and United Tribes Technical College.  The women’s 5K will begin at 10:00 a.m. with the men’s 8K to follow.

“We'll be trying to maintain some momentum this week after coming off a very competitive PacWest Conference Championships last weekend,” said Yellowjacket head coach Dave Coppock.  “I still feel like we haven't quite peaked--although we did a bit last week--and still have some room to improve.  The theme this week will be to try to break some barriers; the women will be shooting for running under 19:00 for the 5K, and the men will be trying to run under 28:00 for the 8K.  Black Hills State, Dickinson State and South Dakota Tech are expected to be at least as competitive as our conference schools last week and should push us towards those goals.  Both Black Hills men's and women's teams are currently ranked 19th in the NAIA national polls, and Dickinson State has always been competitive with us.  We haven't run against them for a few weeks now and it will be exciting to see how we've progressed against them.  I think our women will be running closer to Black Hills and our men should be closer to Dickinson State.” 

The Yellowjacket women placed second at last Saturday’s PacWest Championships which were held in Billings.  Heidi Robertson (Great Falls, MT), Sarah Lord (Billings, MT) and Chelsea Lynnes (Miles City, MT) finished second, third and fifth respectively to earn all-conference honors.  All three ran personal bests for the season.

“Heidi, Sarah and Chelsea should again be expected to finish in the top 10 this week,” added Coppock.  “Chelsea appears to be running as well as ever after coming out of a bit of a slump she experienced during the first half of the season.  That will make a huge difference in the scoring this time against these teams.  Tiffany Piplica (Riverton, WY) and Diana Davis (Kalispell, MT) have also improved dramatically and have given us stronger fourth and fifth positions recently.”

Sam Hartpence (Custer, SD) led the men’s team last weekend, placing seventeenth.  He ran a season-best 29:23, over a minute and a half better than his previous best this year.  Scott Brown (Billings, MT) was close behind Hartpence in 19th place in 28:35, also a season best.

Jared Rensvold (Wolf Point, MT) was the Jackets' third runner, placing 26th in 29:31 for his first sub-30 minute 8K of the year.  Ryan Archibald (Missoula, MT) placed 27th in 29:38, and Joe Kragt (Worden, MT) finished 29th in 29:59.  It was also the first time this season that Archibald and Kragt had run below 30 minutes for 8,000 meters.

After Saturday’s invitational, the Yellowjackets will wrap up the season at the NCAA West Regional in Bellingham, WA, on November 6.