MISSOULA — It turned out Owen Thiel had plenty to celebrate.

Fighting through injury to finish 16th in the boys race at the State AA cross country meet Saturday, Thiel was witness to a come-from-behind victory from a fellow Glacier runner: His freshman sister Ada, who caught another Wolfpack runner, Lauren Bissen, to win the girls race. 

Bissen and the younger Thiel had run the top two times in AA coming into Saturday’s race at the University of Montana Golf Course. But it was Thiel who finished in front, then had a raucous celebration with her brother at the edge of the All-State pen.  

Bissen, a junior who has now finished second, third and second in this event, was a gracious runner-up. 

“Absolutely so thankful it was her,” Bissen, who finished in 18 minutes, 22.66 seconds. “She’s an amazing person and absolutely deserved to win. Of all the people in the world, it should have been her.” 

Thiel finished in 18:21:89 after making up a couple hundred meters on Bissen over the final kilometer of the 5,000-meter race. 

“I couldn’t see her. I didn’t even know if I wanted to try,” she said. “Then I realized I was catching up to her on the straightaway. I said in my head, ‘Maybe I can catch her.’ I decided then to just give it my all across the finish line.” 

“I was a little surprised, honestly,” Bissen said. “I was like, WHOA.” 

The Wolfpack finished fourth in the team standings. Bozeman, which swept the titles, had 48 points to 63 for the Gallatin girls. Next came Helena (88) and then Glacier (99). 

Caitryn Vander Vloedt, Hailey Fiala and Dacia Benkleman — Benkleman is the lone senior — finished 30-31-35 for the Pack. 

“Unfortunately you can’t control what the other teams do,” Glacier coach Cody Moore said. “And there were a lot of really good teams out there.” 

Phoebe Maixner (18:27.84) led a 3-5-6-12 finish for the Hawk girls. In fourth place was Flathead sophomore Everett Holland, in 18:58.04. The Bravettes finished eighth as a team; the Braves were fifth in the boys standings. 

“The boys as a team finished exactly where we thought they could,” Flathead coach Jesse Rumsey said. “That’s the best placement we’ve had in a number of years. Last year we were sixth.” 

Sophomore Carson Thorne was Flathead’s top boy, finishing 11th in 16:16.2. The top 15 in each race earn All-State recognition. 

Rumsey was also pleased that Emery Eash (19:47.42) and Lucy Downey (23:01.55) hit personal records for the girls; Holland missed hers by less than a second. 

“I feel good about the finish on both sides,” Rumsey said. 

Glacier’s boys matched the girls with a fourth-place finish, with 143 points. Bozeman (41), Helena (85) and Missoula Hellgate (101) grabbed the trophies, and Bozeman’s Miles Halvorsen (15:34.5) and Taylor Neil (15:42.8) went 1-2. 

Owen Thiel and Bissen provided a Glacier 3,200 meters sweep at the State AA track meet in May, and Thiel had come in with the third-best time in AA this cross country season. 

“Just not feeling good from the start,” he said. “I hadn’t run since Monday. I had a little foot injury and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to run until yesterday.” 

“He fought through it and ran well enough today to help the team, which is all you can ask,” Moore said. Glacier still had an All-State runner in senior Jude Sparkman, who was 14th. 

Thiel was happy he at least got to run. 

“And my sister winning her first state title makes up for everything,” he said. “Best feeling in the world. I’m happier than I was winning state in track.” 

“I’m just so proud of both teams,” Moore said “Especially the way Ada and Lauren pushed each other, in races and training. To have them 1-2 today, it was pretty special.” 

State AA  

Saturday, UM Golf Course 

GIRLS 

Individual Top 15

Team scores — 1, Bozeman 49; 2, Gallatin 63; 3, Helena 88; 4, Glacier 99; 5, Billings West 149; 6, Missoula Hellgate 177; 7, Missoula Big Sky 222; 8, Flathead 226; 9, Great Falls CMR 244; 10, Belgrade 275; 11, Butte 329; 12, Billings Skyview 330; 13, Helena Capital 360; 14, Billings Senior 384; 15, Great Falls 401; 16, Missoula Sentinel 418. 

1, Ada Thiel, Glacier, 18:21.89; 2, Lauren Bissen, Glacier, 18:22.66; 3, Phoebe Maixner, Boz, 18:27.84; 4, Everett Holland, Flathead, 18:58.04; 5, Kylee Neil, Boz, 19:01.21; 6, Tula Higman, Boz, 19:10.42; 7, Natalie Rutherford, Gal, 19:12.91; 8, Hazel Cooper, Gal, 19:15.44; 9, Kortney McKay, Hel, 19:16.39; 10, Stella Damyanovich, CMR, 19:18.00; 11, Jane Allen, BW, 19:21.48; 12, Lucy Erickson, Boz, 19:22.67; 13, Isabel Ward, Hel, 19:25.73; 14, Claire Rucker, Gal, 19:32.96; 15, Lilah Karro, Gal, 19:38.17. 

BOYS

Team scores – 1, Bozeman 41; 2, Helena 85; 3, Missoula Hellgate 101; 4, Glacier 143; 5, Flathead 147; 6, Missoula Sentinel 177; 7, Billings West 211; 8, Gallatin 222; 9, Butte 223; 10, Great Falls CMR 239; 11, Belgrade 282; 12, Billings Skyvew 298; 13, Billings Senior 316; 14, Great Falls High 329; 15, Helena Capital 365; 16, Missoula Big Sky 519. 

Individual Top 15

1, Miles Halvorsen, Boz, 15:34.5; 2, Taylor Neil, Boz, 15:42.8; 3, Milo Kauffman, Hel, 15:54.1; 4, Camden Houchin, Butte, 15:59.9; 5, Miles Miller, Hgt, 16:01.5; 6, Christian Landers, Boz, 16:08.9; 7, Kye McAbee, BW, 16:11.2; 8, Emerson Hamma, CMR, 16:12.4; 9, Isaiah Hudson, Hgt, 16:15.6; 10, Branlin Foote, Boz, 16:16.0; 11, Carson Thorne, Flathead, 16:16.2; 12, Bridger Warner, Gal, 16:20.9; 13, Dylan Hill, Hel, 16:21.3; 14, Jude Sparkman, Glacier, 16:21.9; 15, Garrett Hinderman, Hel, 16:22.3. 

NOTE: Full results can be found at athletic.net.