It would be easy to get really excited about the youthful group of runners on both the girls and boys cross-country teams at Plains High this year.

It would be easy to look at the results from the Flathead Invitational cross-country meet at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell this past Friday and think “who ARE these kids?” 

These young harriers are a group of runners under the guidance of head coach Jesse Jermyn and assistant coach Charity Jermyn, who voluntarily ran 25-40 miles a week this summer in preparation for the 2024 Montana Cross Country season. 

And it may well be easy to remember their names when all is said and done. 

The Trotters runners finished 13th in a field of runners that reads like a “who’s who” of area harriers.  They were paced by sophomore standout Marina Tulloch, who placed fourth in the girls’ race out of 126 runners who crossed the finish line of the 3.1-mile run. 

That list, mind you, was full of runners from area Class AA and A schools.  And in placing fourth with a time of 19:41.93, Tulloch was 59 seconds behind race winner Lauren Bissen, a sophomore from Glacier High in Kalispell, who clocked 18:42.05. Tulloch averaged a sparkling 6:21 per mile in the Flathead event. 

The Trotters did not have enough runners entered to qualify for the team title, but their team time among the five who crossed the finish line was individual average time was 24:06.15. 

The girls’ team winner, Class AA Bozeman High, by comparison had an individual average time of 19:59.21. 

In the boys' side of the competition, Plains placed 16th out of 29 teams with the same class make-up as was the case with the girls’ race.  Bozeman made it a sweep of the team titles by placing first in the boys’ competition with an individual average of 16:10.93.  Plains, led by freshman Owen John Jermyn’s 37th place individual finish, had an average individual runner time of 19:27.58. 

Jermyn, the son of the coach and assistant coach, finished the race with a time of 17:17.63.  That works out to an average time per mile of 5:35. 

The boys’ race was won by Glacier’s Owen Thiel, who had a winning time of 15:31.71. 

Other Plains runners who contributed to the girls’ team points effort were:  junior Savannah Costner, the elder statesperson of the girls’ team, 53rd with a time of 22:38.28; Annika Ercanbrack, a freshman who crossed the line at 24:50.27, good for 88th place; freshman Tia Bellinger, 89th with a time of 25:16.29, and Ireland Corbin, a sophomore who came across in 116th place with a time of 28:03.96. 

In the boys’ competition, Plains got team points from six runners, including: freshman Cord Greer, who was 75th (18:31.45); junior Kalem Ercanbrack, 116th (20:10.09); senior Mike Reistroffer, 119th (20:21.50); sophomore Jack Cockrell, 128th (20:56.86); and Asher Seymour, (161st) with a time of 25:24.28. 

Next up for both Plains teams was the Corvallis Invitation this Saturday (Sept 14) at CCEC.