There is something special, and very young, brewing in the Plains-Thompson Falls area this year.

And that concept was etched in stone Saturday by a sophomore from Plains High School during the Thompson Falls Invitational cross country meet at postcard-like River’s Bend Golf Course on a glorious late summer Montana day. 

Trotters' sophomore Marina Tulloch, who last week won the prestigious Corvallis Invitational over a field of harriers from schools large and small, cemented herself as a state-level favorite when she toured the 3.1-mile River’s Bend course in a record-setting run of 18:43.96. In so doing, Tulloch shattered the old course record of 19:38. 

That is an average of 6:03 per mile. 

The second-place finisher in the girls’ competition, which featured 86 entrants from 21 schools. Polson sophomore Morgan Delaney also broke the course record, crossing the finish line at 18:54.32. 

And another runner from Plains schools, eighth grader Simeon Costner (Plains Junior High), also established a new junior high course record, winning the event with a time of 11:17 over a shorter course than the varsity distance. 

Tulloch’s win helped the Trotters claim fourth place in the 21-team competition.  Three other Plains runners finished in the top 40 and a fifth Trotter was 41st.  The girls’ team title went to Columbia Falls, which had a low score of 34 points via five runners in the top 10.  Plains had 140 team points, while Thompson Falls placed sixth with 179 points. 

The Plains boys also had a good race, placing sixth in the team chase behind the seventeenth-place finish by Owen John Jermyn (17:49.02), and the eighteenth-place showing by teammate Cord Greer (17:50.71).  Both Horsemen runners are freshmen. 

Sandpoint, Idaho won the boys team title with a score of 91 points, while Plains collected 184 points and T Falls, which came in sixteenth as a team, had 397 points.  A total of 101 boys participated in the varsity competition. 

Thompson Falls’ girls were led by eighth grader Audrey Fairbank, who crossed the finish line at 22:05.83.  Other Lady Hawks who placed in the event included: sophomore Aubrey Baxter, who was thirty-first (22:38.88); Lexi Franck, another freshman on coach Sarah Naegeli’s young squad, thirty-seventh (23:13.22); Evalyn Edwards, forty-second (23:25.43), and Peighton Kenney, fifty-second (24:30.46). 

Plains’ girls who placed in the meet included: Tia Bellinger, twenty-sixth (22:32.47); Savanah Coster, thirty-third (22:40.88); Ireland Corbin, thirty-ninth (23:20.13), and Annika Ercanbrack, forty-first (23:23.20). 

In the boy's competition Plains, in addition to the lofty finishes by Jermyn and Greer, got a forty-first place showing from Mike Reistroffer (18:49.75); Kalen Ercanbrack, forty-sixth (19:01.43); Jack Cockrell, sixty-second (19:51.70), and Brock Ryan, seventieth, (20:09.84) 

T Falls boys, meanwhile, were led by freshman Weston Block, who placed 54th with a time of 19:28.58).  Other Blue Hawks who placed were Nathan Baxter, an eighth grader, seventy-second (20:18.65); junior Blake Shusterman, seventy-sixth (20:28.70); Luke Pastorius, eighty-sixth (21:29.67), and Jakob Molina, one-hundred-ninth (23:31.00). 

Costner’s first-place, course-record run in the middle school competition helped Plains finish third in the team title chase.  Corvallis Middle School won the team championship. 

Next on the schedule for Thompson Falls and Plains boys and girls is the Mountain West Invitational in Missoula this Saturday (Sept 28), with competition beginning at 9:30 a.m. 

The T Falls Invitational was run under clear skies with temperatures in the low to mid 60s, ideal weather conditions for the last day of summer. 

    Plains runner Kalem Ercanbrack (orange jersey) runs amid a pack of runners during the Thompson Falls Invitational meet this past Saturday. (Chuck Bandel/VP-MI)