PORTLAND, Ore. – After sprinting to the finish line for a photo-finish third place result at the 2014 Roy Griak, MSU Billings junior Robert Peterson has been named the men's GNAC Co-Runner of the Week, Sept. 22-28.
 
Last weekend Montana State University Billings was in Falcon Heights, Minn., for the running of the 29th-Annual Roy Griak. It was the first time MSUB has been a participant at the event hosted by the University of Minnesota. Several nationally-ranked NCAA Div. II teams were in attendance at the event, including eventual champions on the men's side No. 22 Wisconsin-Parkside.
 
"It was such an amazing event," Peterson said regarding the meet's atmosphere. "It was a huge field with lots of runners, and everyone there was so enthusiastic."
 
Included in the men's field were 33 NCAA Div. II teams. Helped by Peterson's time, MSUB placed eighth overall.
 
The Div. II race began with a false-start as a runner at the beginning of the race fell down, causing a recall of the field and an additional start. In the middle of the race, Peterson led all runners right up until the 5k mark, when four runners caught up and passed him. Undaunted Peterson kept to his pace and pushed up the hill and into the final turn to the finish. In the final yards, Peterson overtook two of the runners and matched his strides pace-for-pace with an unattached runner from Augustana. At the wire, Peterson took third place by a nose at his first Roy Griak event crossing the line with a time of 25:43.

"Bob just ran a really brave race," head coach Dave Coppock said on Peterson's run. "He knew he had to push the pace early to see if he could separate himself, and he did. He was also able to come back those last few yards and finish with an absolutely outstanding final few meters."
 
"My strategy going in was to be conservative in the first mile, to see where I was, and then we had that false-start where the runners had to come back and start over," Peterson said on the beginning of the men's race. "I think the false-start was actually good for me; it helped me calm down and I was able to feel good the second time.
 
"After the first mile I could see how close I was to the leaders, so I actually caught up to them and led the pace for a while, then a runner surged past me on an uphill portion so I let him go. There were around five runners at the end who were going for second place. It was a really emotional finish at the end. I wanted to be maybe top-30, but to finish in second is so amazing. It was a really fun, competitive event, and a great day for Yellowjacket cross country."
 
"Robert has really made a jump this year to a higher level in NCAA DII with his finish at Griak," Coach Coppock commented on Peterson's result. "He was able to handle the fast, early pace in that big field and drop back into a comfortable race pace. He made a big move mid-race and took the lead which is a big commitment since you end up putting yourself out there as a target for the lead pack to chase. It was the right thing to do and will help his confidence as we progress towards the postseason. He's running really well right now on essentially high mileage and aerobic training; we haven't begun anything resembling speed work yet, so I see a lot of upside going forward. Our primary concern is staying healthy over the next eight weeks as we work towards regionals."
 
Peterson shares the honor with Nathan Richards of Western Washington University. Richards led the Vikings to a perfect team score of 15 in winning the Saint Martin's Invitational in an 8,000-meter time of 26:21.78. 
 
Next up for MSUB cross country is the home-hosted Yellowjacket Invitational. The annual event will take place this Friday, Oct. 3 at Amend Park. This year's invitational will serve at the NCAA Div. II West Region preview meet as MSUB will host the west region championships coming up on Nov. 22.