Plains boys and girls cross country teams are continuing to grow a young program on the rise.

For now, they are not backing down from any challenges, as evident by their participation in the junior varsity portion of the star-studded Bozeman Cross Country Invitational this past Saturday.

In the women’s portion of the event, even the junior varsity field was clogged with JV teams from several Class AA and A teams. The race featured 133 runners and was won by Helena High’s JV, with host Bozeman close behind.

A freshman runner from Jefferson High (Boulder) won the meet, covering the 5,000 meter course (3.1 miles) in 21 minutes, 25.32 seconds. A pair of Bozeman JV runners placed second and third, followed by a freshman from Butte.

Then, in fifth place, Plains freshman Marina Tulloch claimed fifth place with a time of 21:47.98. The Trotters had two more runners who finished the race, but did not have enough to qualify for the team title.

Senior Peyton Wasson placed 80th with a time of 25:28.59, and freshman Ashley Ferlan finished the race in 26:40.60, which was good for 120th place in the standings.

In the men’s race, Billings West JV won the team title with 84 points, while Helena came in second with 105 total points.

The race was won by Bozeman sophomore Zeke Donoghue, who crossed the finish line with a time of 18:05.48.

Plains men, which like the women’s team did not have enough runners to qualify for the team title, got an eye-opening performance from eighth grader John Owen Jermyn, who covered the course in 18:33.13, good for seventh place in a field of 313 runners.

Horsemen senior Joe Martin claimed 28th place with his time of 19:21.89, while sophomore Kalem Ercanbrack finished 91st with a 20:29.15 clocking.

Senior Drew Carey recorded a time of 20:40.61 to finish 101st in the 5K race for Plains.

Next up for the Horsemen and Trotters is the Mission Invitational today (Sept 12) in St. Ignatius.