Yellowjacket Harriers Open in South Dakota Saturday (Sept. 10, 2004)

BILLINGS, MT – The Montana State-Billings cross-country teams will begin the 2004 season on Saturday in Rapid City, SD, at the South Dakota Tech Invitational.  The race will be held at Robbinsdale Park in Rapid City beginning at 10:00 a.m.

“The meet has always been a good ice-breaker for the team,” said Yellowjacket head coach Dave Coppock, who is begining his sixteenth year.  “It’s usually a small meet against some very good NAIA competition. It’s not a very fast course, with much of it run over rough terrain with difficult footing and deep grass, but it’s against a relatively small field which enables us to see how our runners stack up head to head with the other teams in order to gauge their progress over the season.”

Black Hills State, Dickinson State and South Dakota Tech will compete along with the Yellowjackets.  Black Hills will likely be the meet favorite this weekend after its men’s team finished second at last year’s NAIA nationals.  The Black Hills women finished eighth. 

“I’m excited to see how both our teams will do this first time out,” said Coppock.  “The men have had a solid off-season and should make a better showing than last season.  The team has been running very close together which is a real advantage in cross country.”

“I’m also looking forward to seeing how our top runner, Chelsea Lynnes, stacks up against some of the top Black Hills State women,” added Coppock.  “Last year at this meet, she was a close third behind two Black Hills runners.  She was nipped  in a kick to the finish by the second place runner.  I know she’s coming into this season stronger and more experienced and would like to redeem herself there.”

“Heidi Robertson and Sarah Lord both ran strong performances in our time trials last week and should back up Chelsea in rounding out our top three.  This first meet will be a good test to see how some of the other returning women (Tiffany Piplica, Mandy Brown, Kendra Bebee and Tracie Overberg) have improved, as well as how the newcomers handle the competition.”