POLSON — Running three miles as fast as you can is tough enough.

Add cold weather, snow, a steep hill and bales of hay and the race becomes an obstacle course.

That is what the Polson cross country team’s course was like at the Pirate Duels last Saturday at the Polson Fairgrounds.

The cold weather joined forces with an obstacle course that included bales of hay runners had to jump over and one large hill, among many smaller ones, runners had to scale twice.

“The snow made the already challenging course even more exciting,” head coach Matt Seeley said. “We had great feedback from the visiting teams.”

The Lady Pirates took first in a race where every point counted.

Junior Mesa Starkey led the Polson girls team, finishing second overall to Bigfork’s Kayle Carlson, one of the top runners in the state.

“Mesa is looking very determined and strong at just the right time going into divisionals and state,” Seeley said.

Junior Sierra Pete and senior Karissa Koberg pushed each other to round out the top three for Polson.

Seeley said Chelsea Cree ran very well to grab fifth for the team and solidify her new position on varsity.

The boys finished fourth overall, two points behind third-place Hamilton.

Sophomore Alex Nystrom and freshman Jimmy Bjorge led the boys. Nystrom finished tenth overall with a time of 18:02.

Seeley said the huge improvement by Travis Bowman caught his eye.

“Travis is very new to running,” Seeley said. “He has looked good all year and has suddenly jumped up to third runner on the team. With three young guys at the front, we are pretty excited about the future of the boys team.”

After watching his team run the challenging course, Seeley was able to prove himself to his team in the open race. He won in a time of 17:09 on the three mile course.

The Pirates will run at the Northwest A championships at the Silver Fox Golf Course in Pablo on Saturday. The girls will run at 11 a.m. and the boys will run at 11:45 a.m.