While Class A schools Corvallis and Columbia Falls continue to dominate team scores in area cross country meets, the young runners from Plains are making it clear they are a factor in the making.

Columbia Falls boys won the team title and Corvallis’ girls took home top team honors at the Hamilton XC Invitational last week, while the Corvallis boys and the Columbia Falls girls were team runners up.

But a pair of youngsters from Plains represented well during the 5K run, with Plains freshman Marina Tulloch placing ninth in a field of 80 runners, and John Owen Jermyn finishing 15th out of 130 runners in the boys competition.

Tulloch’s lofty finish helped the Trotters to a fifth place team showing, while Jermyn and the boys team did not place because they did not have enough competitors entered.

Tulloch crossed the finish line at the 21:09.20 mark, covering the 3.1 mile course with an average per mile pace of 6:49. The girl’s race was won by Hamilton freshman Aleigha Child, who recorded a first place time of 19:27.60 for the Lady Broncs.

Plains also had two other runners in the top 30: eighth-grader Annika Ercanbrack was 28th with a time of 23:33.91, while teammate Ashley Ferlan, another freshman, finished at 23:39.33.

The Trotters’ Savannah Costner, a sophomore, was 36th with a time of 23:57.08. Senior Peyton Wasson rounded out the Plains contingent, crossing the finish line 42nd with a time of 24:35.77.

Corvallis had 47 points to capture the women’s team title, just ahead of second place Columbia Falls’ score of 50. Plains had 126 team points in bringing home fifth place.

Hamilton runner Taylor Doleac made it a sweep of the individual titles for the host Broncs when he crossed the finish line with an eye-popping time of 16:31.79.

Jermyn, meanwhile, had a time of 17:59.71 for Plains.

“He’s right where we would like him to be as an eighth grader,” said his mom and Plains co-coach Charity Jermyn at a recent area race. “We have some good young runners”.

Plains senior Joe Martin, meanwhile, finished 31st for the Horsemen with a time of 18:47.65. Teammate Kalem Ercanbrack was 65th, crossing the line at 20:20.04, while sophomore Asher Symour finished with a time of 23:29.34.

Next on the schedule for Plains runners is the Fish Hatchery run in Arlee, beginning today (October 3) at 1 p.m. The Horsemen and Trotters are also slated to appear in the Mission Shadow run in Pablo this Saturday (Oct 7).