The biggest cross country event of the season in the Flathead Valley will unfortunately be missing one of its biggest stars this weekend.

Makena Morley, a senior at Bigfork High School, will not be competing in the Flathead Invitational at Rebecca Farm on Saturday, an event she has won three times.

Morley will only run three high school events this fall in Montana as she puts the bulk of her attention on national events and high-intensity training.

Morley’s first meet will be Mountain West in Missoula on Sept. 20 followed by the 7 on 7 in Helena on Oct. 9 and then state, also in Helena, on Oct. 25.

“She wants to do better at Foot Locker,” Bigfork coach Sue Loeffler said.

“She wants to win it. So we’ll run fewer meets so she can train harder. When you don’t see her name (at meets this fall), that’s why.”

Loeffler said Morley is also looking at running in a big-profile cross country event in Utah after Mountain West.

“I think you will see neat things out of her (this season),” Loeffler said.

“The difficult training she is doing, she’s doing quite well.”

Morley last year had a spectacular season. She won her third straight Class B state championship followed by a first-place finish at the Foot Locker West Regional and placing eighth at Foot Locker nationals.

Because of her accomplishments, she was featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd segment and was named Montana’s Gatorade Cross Country Athlete of the Year for a third time.

“She’s accomplished quite a lot at the high school level,” Loeffler said.

“She still has things she wants to accomplish at the next level. In order to do that, she needs to train really hard.”

Morley follows in a great tradition of cross country runners Loeffler has had the pleasure of coaching over the years. The others, to name a few, are: Brooke Andrus, Kayla Carlson, Lauren Dalton, Leslie Dalton and Kaci Calaway

For most schools, the Flathead Invitational will be their third outing of the season. For others, it will be their second time out.

Class AA

Flathead

Coach Paul Jorgensen, now in his 42nd season with the Braves, has four talented runners back with state experience — Sylas Schutt, senior, Jordan Engle, senior, Jacob Calles, junior, and Robert Hafemeyer, sophomore.

Schutt was 17th at state.

“Seems to be in pretty good shape,” Jorgensen said of Schutt.

“Ran most of the summer, likewise for the rest of them.”

Out for the first time is junior Jake Perrin.

“He played football (previously), but looks good,” Jorgensen said of Perrin.

“He has potential.”

Schutt and Engle have show tremendous

leadership skills this fall.

“The best I’ve ever had in all the years I’ve coached,” Jorgensen said.

“They have all the runners thinking the same way, they’re all together.”

He said sophomores Derek Macfarlane and Jaden Anderson are also off to strong starts.

“Both have come a long way,” he said.

“They knocked almost a couple minutes off their times (this year at the Cut Bank Invitational from last year).”

Taking over the girls coaching duties this year is Jesse Rumsey. She has been an assistant with the program for several years.

Girls back with state experience are Johanna Lembke, senior, Mackenzie Bouma, senior, Heather Bodenhamer, senior, Julian Kaptanian, junior, and Nicole Bouma, sophomore.

The Bravettes were 10th at state in 2014.

“This year we’re really looking for depth in the program,” Rumsey said.

“We have 31 girls on the roster. I’m really proud of that.”

Two transfers who could help are Lauren Clark, senior, from Nebraska and Gillian Mannes, junior, from Stillwater Christian School.

Glacier

The girls had their best state showing a year ago, placing fifth, and return five members off that team — Corrine Hamilton, junior, Bailey Smith, sophomore, Josie Brousseau, sophomore, Jessica Chery, senior,  and Miranda Champion, senior.

Hamilton was 21th overall at state.

Four others expected to make contributions this season are Taylor Lapke, junior, Rachel Ruis, junior, Lauren Harmon, freshman, and Annie Hill, freshman.

Hill is already off to a fantastic start, leading the Wolfpack in both outings to date.

“I think she’s right where I thought she would be right now,” said coach Mike McLean.

“She’ll keep improving. Right now, she hasn’t had any competition.”

Team wise ...

“They are going to have to keep working,” he said.

“We still have a long ways until Oct. 25 (state). We have a lot of time to get in better shape.”

The boys finished second last year, their best showing ever at state.

Kade McCutcheon, junior, Logan Harmon, junior, Tevyn Stetson,  sophomore, Ruben Castren, senior, Noah Hill, junior, and Carson Brown, junior, were all members of that team.

McCutcheon finished fourth at state and Harmon was 15th.

Brock Atkins, sophomore, and Brock Sandry, senior, Josiah Gardner, senior, Joseph Vanden-Bos, freshman, Colin Cassidy, junior, Colton Gorian, junior, and David Schwarz, senior, will give the team some depth.

“Lots of potential,” McLean said.

“We have to keep pushing ourselves. We have strong guys up front.”

Class A

Columbia Falls

The girls will again be led by Samantha Mundel, a senior.

She finished ninth at state last year and was the Northwestern A divisional champion. Last spring she added a Class A state track 3,200 meter title to he list of achievements.

“I think winning the 3,200 lit a fire under her,” coach Richard Menicke said.

“She had her best summer of training, got a lot of miles under her legs and strength training.”

That hard work has already paid off. She ran a lifetime personal best time in her first race of the fall.

Other returners back with state experience are Meredith Stolte, senior, Kendra Cahoon, senior, Haylie Peacock, sophomore, Miranda Livingston,  junior, Allie Folks, sophomore, Sadie Panasuk, junior, and Morgan Christensen, senior.

“It’s a really solid girls team,” Menicke said.

He said Hannah Freeman, a sophomore who played volleyball last year, has been “a fantastic addition.” She’s currently the team’s No. 3 runner.

For the boys, top returners are Glenn Morden, junior, Storm Kemppainen, sophomore, Winfield West, sophomore, and Qynn Ingram, sophomore.

“A young team,” Menicke said.

“We’re kind of rebuilding.”

Two promising freshman who could contribute are Gabe Knudsen and Braxton Shewalter.

Back for another go, and looking stronger, are Hunter Peterson, sophomore and Will Nelson, sophomore.

Whitefish  

Coach Sarah Brist has three boys back with state experience — Keaton Grove, senior, Ethan Lannaghan, junior, and Ethan Potthoff, sophomore. Grove finished 24th last year.

Juniors Gauge Anderson and Che Roussel are expected to be on the varsity roster along with several freshmen and sophomores.

The boys finished fifth at state.

“Our goal is to place at state,” Brist said.

“They look like they have some potential to do as good, or better, than last year. Keaton and the Ethans (Lannaghan and Potthoff) have been in the top three and have done a good job of leading the rest of the team.

“We only have three seniors on both sides (girls and boys),” Brist said.

“We’ll be heavy with sophomores and juniors.”

Brist has no freshmen girls out.

Sarah Latcham, a senior, is expected to be the team’s top runner this year. She finished 16th at state last year.

Peyton Twete, senior, Katie Smith, junior, Annika Gordon, junior, and Sarah Perez, junior, are the other leading candidates for the varsity along with Barrett Gray, junior, Kennah Fuller, junior, and Greta Roberts, sophomore.

“Our goal is the same as boys — place at state,” Brist said.

“It’s still early in the season, but we’ve seen lots of potential.”

Libby

The program is on the upswing with 30 runners showing up for practice.

“Best turnout we’ve ever had,” said coach Rod Tempel, in his fifth straight season, sixth overall.

“Great attitudes, great kids, they are energetic. They are active, having fun.”

Krysten Mossburg, junior, is back after competing in Juneau, Alaska, last year. She was the Loggers top runner her freshman season.

Sister Emily Mossburg, a freshman, will split time with the team. She also plays volleyball. She was the team’s top runner at the Libby Invitational.

Alee Julson, sophomore, was the team’s top runner last fall. She suffered an ankle injury in basketball, which has slowed her return.

Niklaus Gier, sophomore, was the team’s leading runner at the season opener in Libby. He will be challenged by Miguel Hernandez, senior.

 Caleb Hooper, senior, ran fifth, sixth or seventh on the team last year. Tempel says Hooper is in better shape this year and should move up.

Allan Rice, sophomore, is expected to battle for a varsity spot.

“By the end of the year, I wouldn’t be surprised if he beats them all,” Tempel said of Rice.

Billy Topaz, a senior, should contribute. This is his fourth year in the program.

Polson

Coach Matt Seeley, who begins his 10th season, has two returners back from last year’s team that placed sixth at state. They are Izabella Seemann, sophomore, and Anna Young, sophomore. Both also won all-conference honors last year.

“We graduated nine senior girls,” he said.

“But we have four really strong freshmen girls coming in.”

Those girls are Ryan Harrot, Malia Seeley, Quinn Motichka and Naima Crowl.

“They are a real strong group,” he said.

“We don’t have any superstars, but we have six who all run within about a minute of each other.”

The boys have four state participants back — Warren Wood, junior, Thunder Morales, junior, Matt Sitter, sophomore, and Wyatt Benson, sophomore.

Zach Evertz, freshman, is off to a great start. He has been the team’s No. 2 runner in both outings to date.

“They have some to work to do, but are working hard,” coach Seeley said.

“We’ll see how they do as they move through the season.”

Class B

Bigfork

With Makena Morley participating in just three meets, this will give younger sister Bryn, freshman, a chance to shine.

“They don’t have to go against each other (at every competition),” Loeffler said.

That will happen at just two outings — 7 on 7 and state.

“Bryn and Makena are completely different runners,” Loeffler said.

“But both are exceptional runners.”

 Bigfork will field a full team thanks to soccer player Gabby Eaton, sophomore, also running this fall. Veronica Farrier, a senior, is also out.

“We have two others, but we don’t know how strong they are yet,” Loeffler said.

The boys, like the girls, will be led by a Morley — Logan. He finished second at state in 2013 as a sophomore.

“Very much more mature, stronger, taller,” Loeffler said of Logan.

“He needed that maturity. He had the potential, he just needed the maturity.”

Eureka

Alexandra Barthmess, a senior, will be looking to close out her career with more all-state honors. She finished fifth last year to lead the Lions.

Also back with state experience are seniors Brandi Nelson and Rosalinda Weaver.

The boys have three runners back with state experience in senior Austin Leonard, junior Tai Hagen and sophomore Jamie Good.

“Our boys will be competitive this year,” coach Andrew Gideon said.

“They will be pushed this season after a great summer of running. We are a team and are working on a culture wof success.

“The girls future is really bright with four freshman,” he added.

“We have some great talent.”