In a sea of big fish, Plains at least had some fish in the ocean.

Bad analogy but a fitting one in light of the top flight competition the young, up and coming Plains High cross country team went up against in the Flathead Invitational meet held Saturday at Rebecca Farm near Kalispell.

The Plains runners did not have enough entrants in either the mens or womens races over the 5,000 meter course (3.1 miles), but they did have entrants and those entrants placed in a meet dominated by Class AA and A schools.

Bozeman won the women’s portion of the meet, with a low score of 67 points, 21 ahead of second place Gallatin, which accumulated 88 points. The top six finishers in the women's competition were all Class AA schools.

Plains freshman Marina Tulloch finished tops for the Trotters with a respectable 47th place out of 129 runners. She covered the course in 21:51.71, three minutes behind the winner, Kylee Neil of Bozeman.

Two other Plains women finished the race with sophomore Savannah Costner placing 113th with a time of 24:51.36, while teammate Ashley Ferlan, another freshman, was the 122nd woman to cross the finish line, recording a time of 25:17.94.

The men’s competition was also won by Bozeman, with a low score of 46, 17 points better than second place Great Falls, which had a team score of 63.

The top seven men’s teams were all Class AA schools. Polson and Ronan, both Class A schools, finished 15th and 16th respectively, while St. Ignatius was 25th out of 26 men’s men’s squads who had enough runners to qualify for team scoring.

Plains senior Joe Martin was the top runner from Sanders County, placing 159th out of 198 runners, while teammate Drew Carey, also a senior, was 179th. Martin recorded a time of 20:45.92, while Carey was clocked in 21:25.01.

Bozeman’s Nathan Neil won the men’s race with a time of 14:50.31, while Great Falls runner Ryan Harrington was second with a time of 15:16.30.

Sanders County’s other cross country team, Thompson Falls did not participate in the Flathead meet.

Both schools are scheduled to compete in the Canal Run in Ronan this Friday, September 8th.