It’s said that we remember many of the “firsts” in life:  first day of school, first kiss,  first car and first deer.  If that’s the case, Plains High School’s Carter Montgomery will certainly remember last Friday’s Eureka Invitational Cross Country Meet.  It was at that meet, held at Indian Springs Ranch Golf Course, when Montgomery scored his first high school cross country victory.  Breaking free from the pack within the first quarter-mile, Montgomery had a 35 second lead by the mile and extended it from there.  By the end of the three mile race, he had a 57 second margin of victory over teammate Kenneth Beech.  According to head coach Tony Banovich, “we thought that this was going to be a good opportunity for Carter to get his first victory.  So, our race plan called for him to get our hard, break from the pack as soon as possible; then, push the pace as best he could.  He executed perfectly and had just a fantastic race.”

Banovich was also excited about the performances of Plains’ number two and three runners.  “Kenneth Beech has really stepped up his training this year and made the commitment to having a successful senior season” said Banovich.  “And, it paid off today.  A second place overall and his second fastest time ever.  It was great to see Kenneth and Robert (Earhart) lead the chase pack out of the trees with about a half mile to go.”  Earhart held on for a very solid fourth, his time of 18:28 just behind Beech’s 18:08. 

Rounding out the Plains boys’ performances were David Damschen (22nd place, 22:11), Garrett Horton (23rd, 22:52) and Daniel Damschen (28th, 29:11). These performances allowed the Plains team to finish second out of five teams, just 16 points behind Class “A” Whitefish  (52-36).

On the girls’ side, freshman Felicia Earhart led the Trotters with her seventh place finish in 21:22.  Perhaps a bit tired after having played the night before as part of the Plains volleyball team, a top 10 finish was a great way to start her high school cross country career.  Along with Earhart, the girls were represented by Andrea Wood in 12th (24:19), Zoe Banovich in 17th (26:10) and Teija Gill in 19th (41:10).

Banovich stated that he was “extremely pleased” with the overall performances of the team.  “Our training load is quite a bit heavier this year than last.  But, in spite of those extra miles, when compared to last week’s time trial and the Eureka times from 2009, we had across-the-board improvement in all of our runners.  I’m really excited to see what the rest of the season brings.”  This coming weekend will be a big test as the teams will compete in the ultra-competitive Mountain West Classic in Missoula.  According to Banovich, “aside from the state meet, Mountain West is the most competitive meet of the year in Montana.  It’s going to be a great indicator as to where we stand after our early season training and to determine what things we’ll need to work on as we move towards the state meet in six weeks.”

Joining the high schoolers at Mountain West will be the junior high squads of Coach Gena Ferlan.  In Eureka,  four was the magic number as both Ryan Ovitt and Carley VonHeeder scored fourth place finishes in their 1.5 mile races.  With his 10:59 time, Ovitt was just off the back of the main pack of junior high boys. 

VonHeeder had to face a tough one-two-three finish by the girls of Fernie Academy (Canada); but, her 12:28 put her ahead of all the Montana junior high athletes.  Also competing for the Plains girls were Sheridan Martin (9th , 13:46) and Sera Boggess (12th, 17:06).