The Montana State Cross Country Championships are Saturday at the University of Montana Golf Course, and fittingly the Flathead Valley’s fastest girl will get things started.

The first race, at 11 a.m., is the Class AA girls, where Flathead will be trying for a top-three trophy behind junior Lilli Rumsey Eash.

The Columbia Falls Wildkats will try to defend their state title in the second race of the day, and both Whitefish and Columbia Falls are among the threats to earn trophies in the A Boys race set for 12:40 p.m.

The Class B boys are scheduled to go off at 2:20 p.m., and while defending champion Bigfork and Eureka could make noise, the Mission Bulldogs look very strong.

Class AA

Rumsey Eash is one of three AA girls to run under 19 minutes this season, and should be able to push Gallatin sophomore Claire Rutherford and Missoula Sentinel senior Malia Bradford.

The same two beat Rumsey Eash at the very fast Butte Invitational on Sept. 30.

“Butte was pretty indicative for us,” Jesse Rumsey, Lilli’s mom and the Flathead coach, said this week. “It told us that our goals for the season were reachable.”

The Bravettes finished third behind always-powerful Missoula Hellgate and three-time defending state champion Bozeman in Butte.

Duplicate that feat Saturday and Flathead will have its first state trophy since 2014. Rumsey Eash points to Madelaine Jellison, who is running her best times since a sparkling freshman debut, as one key. Freshman Lindy Porter is another, along with Mikenna Conan and Bailey Wride.

“We’ve been right on the verge of being on the podium,” said Rumsey, whose squad was sixth last season (while Rumsey Eash was fourth). “We’re just looking for the best race of the season. It’s going to be really competitive. And like any sport, it’s anybody’s day on State day.”

Flathead’s boys are slated for a lower division finish, but Rumsey has high hopes for junior Bauer Hollman and the rest of a crew that includes sophomore Kasen Kastner.

Glacier doesn’t graph out well in either race based on season times, but coach Cody Moore notes that his teams didn’t run at the fast Butte meet, and could surprise.

“We’re excited, and ready to go,” Moore said. “It will be fun to send some of our senior boys off on a high note. That’s Jeff Lillard, Tyler Avery, David Gardner and MacGregor Adkins. Freshman Owen Thiel, meanwhile, has run just 14 seconds off Sam Ells’ freshman school record of 17:26.

Moore is excited about the potential of a young girls team, led by junior Bailey Gable, this weekend and the coming seasons.

Class A

You can’t count out Columbia Falls, with Siri Erickson and Ally Sempf back from the state championship squad. But Hardin’s squad is whoa-Nelly good.

“I actually think that Hardin team might be one of the most powerful teams in Class A history,” said Columbia Falls coach Jim Peacock. “They had something like 30 kids out and had a couple phenomenal eighth-grade girls as well. It was already a good team and has kind of turned into a super team.”

He’s talking about Karis Brightwings-Pease, an eighth-grader who’s time of 18:26.8 is 25 seconds better than No. 2 Mariah Aragon, a junior who happens to be a Bulldog teammate. Hardin senior Ellyse Moccasinsits third.

The Kats graph out as a top-three contender behind Corvallis, which just won the Western A Divisional, and Hardin. Erickson is a talent, if she, Sempf, Marissa Schaeffer, Mya Badger and Courtney Hoerner bunch up Saturday all the better.

“I absolutely believe we can trophy,” Peacock said. “Our girls are state champions until somebody else dethrones them and they’re a very solid team.

“The team we have this year would be the team we had last year, straight up. But the competition got a lot better.”

Based on season bests Whitefish figures to have the best locally of a top three boys finish, with Livingston and Hardin showing a little better. But don’t count out the Wildcats.

“My take is there are five teams right now that are fighting for three trophies,” said Peacock, whose squad is led by Logan Peterson and River Blazejewski. “One or two courses threw off the rankings. It’s a little tricky when you just look at athletic.net.”

Whitefish coach Richard Menicke takes it a step further.

“I’ve got to say that on paper, this is about the toughest year I've seen in Class A,” said Menicke. “A lot of boys have run under 18 minutes. It’s not as fast as AA, but the spread from teams 1-5 is pretty tough.”

The coach likes the leadership provided by Mason Genovese and Deneb Linton.

“We’ve had great success running in two-packs,” Menicke said, adding of Nate Inglefigner, Ethan Amic, Ruedi Steiner: “If those guys can kind of keep that spacing, and in scoring terms not have too many bodies fill in between we should have a really good shot.”

Browning’s Jerdan Crawford comes in with the 18th-best time in Class A. The top 15 earn All-State honors.

Class B

The Mission Bulldogs were contenders a year ago, but didn’t fare well at state. Now the Bulldog boys are for real, with seniors Andrew Rush and Zoran LaFromboise leading the way.

“It looks like it's in the bag for them,” said Ryan Nollan, coach of the defending champion Bigfork Vikings. “We’ve been in a bunch of meets with them and they’re pretty solid. A bunch of their boys put in some time in the summer, and it shows.”

This underdog status is nothing new to Bigfork, which projected to finish fourth a year ago (and Mission first) but surged to the win behind Jack Jensen, North Nollan and Bo Modderman.

But Jensen, third individually a year ago, has battled hamstring issues.

“We still have some good runners. The pieces haven’t come together this year but we have the talent,” Coach Nollan said. “I think we’re a top-five team, and can possibly sneak into third.”