Lyle Weese understood what he was getting into when he took over as Montana State's distance and cross country coach in 2014.

Weese grew up in Montana before earning All-American honors at Montana State in the early 2000s. He was also a volunteer assistant for a few years before accepting the full-time role 10 years ago.

Weese wanted to build the program by recruiting kids within the state and in the nearby Pacific Northwest. It took some time, but he has now made the men's program among the best in the nation.

For the past two years, Montana State's men's cross country team has competed in the NCAA Championships, including a 13th-place finish in November. Before then, the Montana State men had only qualified for one NCAA Championship, finishing 11th when Weese was on the team in 2002.

Back then, he didn't put much thought into coaching.

After graduating with a degree in business in 2003, Weese began his professional career. He ran for teams based in Minnesota and California and competed in the steeplechase at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Weese caught the coaching bug in 2007 and 2008 while volunteering at Hartnell Community College in Salinas, Calif.

"I just really enjoyed that," he said. "I had such a great experience at Hartnell. That really cemented that I would like to coach."

In 2009, Weese moved back to Montana and began working with the Bobcats as a volunteer under head coach Dale Kennedy, who had recruited Weese to Montana State more than a decade earlier.

Weese became the distance/cross country coach in 2014 and took over as the director of track and cross country in 2018 when Kennedy retired -- Weese's new Director of Track and Field title, in fact, is now named after Kennedy.

While Weese oversees the entire program, he continues to specialize in the distance events. He cites the Class of 2018 boys recruiting class as a breakthrough because Montana State was able to sign five boys from Montana who ended up becoming the cornerstone of the school's emergence as a nationally relevant program.

"That was really big," Weese said of the 2018 recruiting class. "From that five, we had a great base and we kept building from there."

That 2018 boys recruiting class was led by Montana natives Duncan Hamilton and Cooper West, both of whom were among the top runners on the 2022 cross country team that advanced to the NCAAs for the first time in two decades. At the NCAAs, Hamilton was second on the team and 67th overall despite falling near the start of the race, while West was third on the team and 159th overall.

Hamilton and West have now graduated, but the Bobcats returned five of their top seven from the 2022 team and had expectations of returning to the NCAAs. Those dreams were put to the test in late September when Montana State finished ninth out of 18 teams at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, a performance Weese called "really, really terrible."

"That was probably the moment when we had the most doubts," Weese said.

Montana State regrouped and ran better the rest of the season. The Bobcats finished fifth at the loaded NCAA Mountain Regional Championships and received an at-large berth to the NCAA meet, although they entered ranked 29th in the nation.

"I knew we were better than 29," Weese said. "I didn't know exactly where we were going to end up (at the NCAAs), but I figured we were going to be a lot higher than 29."

Weese's confidence was proven correct, as the Bobcats finished 13th. Matthew Richtman led the way by placing 26th overall, while Ben Perrin was 53rd, Owen Smith was 72nd, Levi Taylor was 138th, Rob McManus was 165th, Sam Ells was 183rd and Harvey Cramb was 231st.

"Those guys really stepped up and put it all together," Weese said. "We were pretty ecstatic with finishing 13th."

Smith, Perrin and Taylor grew up in Montana, while McManus is from Washington -- a state that Weese has targeted for recruits. Meanwhile, Richtman is an Illinois native who transferred from Bradley University in 2020 and Cramb is a native of Brisbane, Australia.

Weese doesn't normally recruit runners from outside the region and can't recall another international runner ever competing for Montana State. But Cramb contacted Weese because he is a talented steeplechaser and knew Montana State had made a name for itself in that event.

In 2022, Hamilton and Taylor were second and ninth, respectively, in the 3,000m steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. They then finished fourth and seventh, respectively, at the 2022 USATF Outdoor Championships.

"That's where it really started with those two doing so well," Weese said.

During the 2023 outdoor season, Hamilton had the fastest collegiate steeplechase time (8:16.23), while McManus ran 8:31.13 and Taylor ran 8:33.82.

Why is Montana State so good in the steeplechase?

"We tend to get pretty athletic distance athletes because a lot of them grow up playing multiple sports," Weese said. "I think that they take to it a little more naturally....(Steeplechase) is something that the individuals we've had in our program have really taken to and enjoyed."

While Montana State has emerged as a steeplechase school, Weese is primarily recruiting high schoolers who have excelled in traditional distance events. The Class of 2024 boys recruits include Andrew Ringert of Eagle (ID) High School and Ryan Harrington of Great Falls (MT) High School, who were eighth and 23rd, respectively, at NXR Northwest in November.

"Those two are definitely high-level recruits," Weese said. "We're excited to be adding them to the team."

Related Links: 

• Inside Recruiting series page