Hungry Horse News

The Columbia Falls girls cross country team didn’t have the fastest runners on the course Saturday at the University of Montana golf course, but they did run great together and took home a second place state A trophy for their efforts in one of the most competitive fields in years.

Mya Badger led the squad with a 17th place finish and a time of 20:19.32 to lead the Wildkats. Chloe Savoy was 20th, Cora Hannon 22nd, Ashley Andrews 26th, Marissa Schaeffer 32nd, Claire Bates 46th and Chloe Williams 53rd.

The top five in the race score.

That gave the Wildcats 117 points, beating third place Custer County by 23 points.

Coach Jim Peacock was pleased with the effort.

“This was a super outstanding group of girls,” he said. He said they all ran faster than they did a month ago on the same course. 

“They did a good job,” he noted. “They ran for their team.”

He said there were no guarantees on second.

“We knew Corvallis and Hamilton were really good,” he said. But they didn’t have the depth the Kats did.

Hardin ran away from the field, with 41 points to win its second straight title. They had five runners in the top 15. Morgan Delaney of Polson won the race.

The boys took fourth in a spirited race. River Blazejweksi was the top runner for the Wildcats, taking 11th with a time of 16:49.84.

Lucas Peterson was 27th, Oliver Kress 30th, Jack Phelps 38th, and Griffin LaRoque 39th. Mason Colliander was 55th and Cash Short 60th.

Peacock said the boys also ran a great race.

“I felt like they ran as well as they could do,” he said. “No one had a bad race.”

Hardin won the meet and Finn Schretenthaler of Park County won the race, with a time of 15:33.19, a full 20 seconds faster than the next racer. 

Peacock noted that this year’s field in both the boys and girls races was just super competitive and even past championship teams, like the girls team in 2021, would have had a tough time against this year’s field.

Next year the girls will have a bit of rebuilding to do, as Badger, Savoy and Schaeffer are all seniors.

    Chloe Savoy during the state cross country meet. Seth Anderson Photo.
  

    River Blazejewski runs to the finish at the state cross country meet in Missoula. Seth Anderson Photography.