Polson takes charge

Polson, Ronan and Arlee took on big hills, hot weather and a competitive field, including some of the top runners in the state, Saturday at Kalispell's Flathead Invitational.

"We took on a challenging course and some tough competition, but both the boys and girls teams came through with strong performances and encouraging results," Polson coach Matt Seeley said.

With five runners finishing in the top 38, the Pirates earned an outstanding fourth-place team score, getting beat only by the three strongest Class AA schools in Northwest Montana. The boys finished well ahead of Browning, Hamilton and Columbia Falls, three of their toughest Class A rivals.

"This means that our boys team is capable of contending for a conference title and a high finish at state in six weeks," Seeley said. "Assistant coach Jenni Brown and I have been pleasantly surprised with the way this group works hard every day, runs together and puts team goals ahead of individual pursuits."

While "the big three" - Alex Nystrom (17:51), Travis Hayes (17:58) and Jimmy Bjorge (18:14) - are leading the way right now, there's no telling who among the next three - Jared Rubel (18:44), Tel Motichka (18:48) and Chaz Brewer (19:12) - will make his move next.

"It is great to have six runners all capable of pushing each other in practice," Seeley said. "The next few meets should be fun to watch."

The JV boys rallied behind strong performances by Mike Bournstein (20:13), Cash Sisler (20:57) and Cade Howlett (21:04) to take sixth place among the teams. Noah Fouty also finished well and was one of only two boys to improve his time from last week in Cut Bank, but it was Quinn Harlan who improved the most, dropping an impressive 1:33 from last week's time.

On the girl's side, Claudia Hewston (20:29) and Tegan Bauer (21:49) both improved their times from Kalispell last year and Hewston was the first Class A finisher to cross the line in eighth place. Hallie Hovenkotter ran very strong to finish third for the Pirates in a sub-24 time. The girls team was eighth overall, but despite a few injury challenges, they were only 36 points out of third. Kristin Young and Veronika Novotna ran well enough in the JV race to record top seven times among the varsity lineup and Kristin was the only girl to improve on her time from a week ago in Cut Bank.

"Our girls team lost some key runners from last year and have been struggling with injuries, but they still have plenty of talent to rise to the challenge and make a big mark later in the season," Seeley said.

This coming Saturday, the varsity teams will travel to the Farragut Invitational in Idaho and the JV will compete at the Ronan Invitational in Pablo.

Ronan has strong finishers

Ronan's boys and girls varsity teams both placed 11th against the stacked competition at the Flathead Invitational. Out of 98 finishers, Ashley Grandchamp was 40th in 23:19; Kiana Howell 51st in 23:58, Jade Gray 54th in 24:10, Rachel Hardy 60th in 24:26; Nicki Jo Mays 85th in 27:24.

"I thought our girls, out of all of the teams, probably had the best day," coach Gale Decker said. "They were packed together and that's nice to see."

On the boys' side, there were 104 finishers. Brady Oakland was the top Chief, finishing 43rd in 19:05. Danny Romero was 51st in 19:24 and Timmy Woll was not far behind in 60th with a time of 19:41. Robbie Hocker came in next in 20:57 and Kyler Runkel (21:29) rounded out the top five.

"They go into it knowing that it's going to be a tough field and it's going to be tough to place very high," Decker said. "So they mostly just try to get through it knowing that next week is going to be a lot better."

The top three Chiefs ended up finishing fairly close together, but they all got there by drastically different means, Decker said.

"Danny Romero went out fast and stayed in the first 15 for the first mile or so, but then he paid for it later," he said. "Some of the other guys tried to maintain a more steady pace - it just depends on the individual and the day."

In the boys JV race, Kollin Wroblewski ran 20:11, clocking one of the team's best times, placing 20th out of 133 JV competitors. Ronan's JV boys team finished eighth out of 13 teams.

The Chiefs did not have the help of their football players for the Kalispell meet, but they should be active this weekend in Ronan.

"Typically, Flathead's the course our kids like the least during the year," Ronan coach Gale Decker said. "Sometimes it's kind of an eye opener for our kids and it motivates them, I think, to perform better. You get better when you run against better competition. Then, hopefully, when we get to an all Class B meet, our kids will be able to run at a higher level than if they wouldn't have had that kind of competition all year."

Arlee guts it out in the hills and heat

Tayla Desjarlais (32.40), Desirea Nault (33:27) and Ontequa Matt (35:28) set the pace for the Arlee girls and Al Plant continues to be the leading force in the Warrior's lineup. He gutted it out for a sub-21 performance at the Flathead Invitational, despite the hills and heat.Dominic Burland (21:49) and Michael Brown (21:51) ran hard together to place two-three for Arlee and Josh Reed (22:42), Zane Ligas (23:06), Zach Felsman (23.21) and Jordan Keltner (23:50) filled out the varsity team efforts. Running in his first cross country meet, freshman Blayton Matt clocked himself a varsity-qualifying time in the JV race, finishing in 23:21.

"He did a great job and ended up getting a time that will place him on varsity for our next meet," coach Katea Dreiling said. "Since there were all the classes competing at this meet I was nervous that my runners might not run their own race, but everyone did a really good job of pacing themselves."

Dreiling said she's excited to see her team reach its potential.

"They've all been working so hard this season, and I know it's going to pay off," she said.

Hatchery Challenge tests area runners

ARLEE - Arlee Cross Country hosted Mission, Deer Lodge, Lincoln, Darby and Drummond at the Arlee Hatchery Challenge Tuesday, Sept. 6.

"The Hatchery Challenge is a very difficult course and the hot weather didn't make it any easier," Arlee coach Katea Dreiling said.

Overcoming those difficult conditions to win the girls' varsity event, Mission's stalwart Ashley Courville crossed the line in 21:23. Her teammate Rose Bear Don't Walk ran 22:52, finishing fourth, and Kaylie Durglo clocked a 27:03 as the Lady Bulldogs' final runner, good for ninth place.

Paden Alexander continued to rock and roll this season, turning in a solid 17:38 to finish second against Darby's dominant Doug Raymer, last year's state champion. Dillon Evans filled in the role of Mission's No. 2, earning a sixth-place finish with his time of 19:07. Ray Matt (20:14), Jarod Smith-Brown (21:40) and Jamie Mullins (24:08) rounded out the Bulldogs' top five.

"The Arlee run ended up being 3.3 miles on a really hot day, so yeah, times did end up a little on the slow side," Mission coach Patrick Murphy said. "It was nice to have our full boys' squad at that one, for the only time this year. Our girls, even though there were only three of them, took home the first place trophy."

For Arlee, newcomer Jenna Pablo led the way for the Scarlets, finishing the challenging course in 27:25.

"We had a couple new runners do really well at our home meet," Dreiling said.

Josh Reed and Zach Felsman both stepped into varsity roles for the Warriors, finishing with times of 23:54 and 24:58, respectively.

Returner Zane Ligas showed he's made great strides from this time last year, completing the course in 22:59, placing fifth and scoring points for his team.

"He really stepped up and did outstanding, improving his time by over a minute and coming within eight seconds of his lifetime PR (personal record)," Dreiling said. "Not only did the heat make it difficult, but our home meet is usually later in the schedule. I was quite impressed that Ligas was able to improve his time over both of these factors."

Mission shows it's top caliber

EUREKA - Mission competed in the Eureka Invitational Friday, Sept. 9, again proving it's quality, not quantity, that has so far defined the season.

"The girls cross country team may have limited numbers, but those that participate are good," coach Patrick Murphy said. "I was very happy with our girls' performances, and look for good things from them as we gain a couple more athletes to compete as a full team."

Despite earning a "no team score," the Lady Bulldogs placed all four runners in the top 18 of a 29-athlete field. Ashley Courville charged the course, finishing in second place with a time of 21:20, only 15 seconds behind the leader from Plains, and almost a minute ahead of third.

Rose Bear Don't Walk placed seventh behind a pack of runners from Whitefish and Plains, crossing the line in 22:48, just five seconds out of sixth. Kaylie Durglo (24:30) and Courtney Heath (25:03) battled for 11th and 14th places, respectively.

Paden Alexander continued to excel against the competition, running to second place in 17:31. He held a commanding lead over his fellow Bulldogs, who as a team placed fourth behind Whitefish, Plains and Thompson Falls.

Stuart Grant earned points as Mission's No. 2, finishing in 21:01; Karl Daniels was 32nd in 23:41; Patrick Ekhert was 34th in 24:33 and Aram Serobyan rounded out the top five with his time of 26:28, good for 37th place.

"With only half of our boys competing (due to football), and two of our boys competing in their first cross country meet ever, I was also pleased with our boys," Murphy said. "I can't wait to get out there and compete with full teams of both boys and girls!"