John Owen Jermyn won State B titles at 1600 and 3200 meters and Cord Greer and Simeon Costner played strong supporting roles in those distance races to lead the Horsemen to a surprising second place team finish and trophy in the season-ending State B meet at MCPS in Missoula last weekend.

The Columbus Cougars won the B boys crown with 63 points, the Horsemen took second with 42 and Loyola third with 38. Of note, Loyola had won the Western B divisional meet a week earlier, also at MCPS, and Plains had finished sixth. What a difference a week can make.

The Horsemen got 38 of their points in the two distance runs and the other four from Matthew Thurston in 300 meter hurdles.

On the girls side, Hadyn Rice pitched the javelin a career-best 125-2 to win second place, and placed fifth to Trotter teammate Kalli Tuma’s sixth in the 100 meter hurdles for all 11 Plains points in the meet. Jefferson County won the girls State B title with 56 points, defending champion Loyola (46) placed second and Huntley Project (44.5) third.

“I thought we could get third place with the boys, but the one-two-three finish in the 3200 really helped push us over into second,” coach Jesse Jermyn said of the distance race where Plains scored 24 of its 42 total team points as John Owen won in 9:38.55, Greer took second in 9:48.02 and Costner third in 9:48.28. “Then we had Matthew come up big in the hurdles. The kids all performed well when it mattered.”

None more so than Jesse’s son John Owen, who completed a Montana distance running triple crown of sorts by adding the State B 1600 and 3200 meter track titles to his 2025 State B cross country crown for the just completed school year.

The highly anticipated 1600 meters race Friday afternoon turned out to be the highlight of the three-day meet, culminating with a flat-out dash the final 100 meters, a dash the determined John Owen refused to lose. And likely had already run in his head.

“We like to do a lot of mental preparation,” coach Jermyn said. "If you can visualize it first, let it play out in your head, you can better deal with it when it does happen. We walked through a lot of race scenarios beforehand, he (John Owen) was ready for about anything.”

Maybe John Owen was ready but his opponents obviously weren’t, fading down the stretch as the determined Horsemen runner refused to let it go, digging down deep, surging ahead and finally bursting across the finish line, raising his arms in triumph in a personal best time of 4:24.21.

Harlem rival Ethan Walker, who Jermyn has already mixed it up with several times now though both are only sophomores in track and in cross country, finished second in 4:24.44, Joliet’s Austin Schellig was third in 4:26.70 and Greer, who has been nursing an injury late this season, was well enough to win fourth in 4:28.83.

The 3200 meters the next day almost seemed anticlimactic as, in the rain, John Owen strode in for the win with Greer and Costner not far behind. Nursing a foot injury, Walker did not race in the 3200 as expected, disappointing fans and nullifying the chances of another electric encounter with John Owen.

“We were hoping he would run, running against the best brings out your best,” coach Jermyn said. “John was disappointed but still ran a good race, although it could have been better with Walker in it too.”

Thurston scored the biggest surprise of the meet for the Horsemen by blazing his way in for fourth place and four valuable team points in 300 meter hurdles, clocking a lifetime best time of 40.92 seconds to get it done. . “Everything really clicked for Matthew, it all came together for him in the 300s,” Jermyn said, “and those points he got ended up being pretty big.”

Thurston and Cooper Merdith also just missed placing in the 110 meter hurdles, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, in that race.

Freshman Jackson Revier didn’t place but did throw the javelin a lifetime best distance and impressed his coach, clearing 140 feet with the spear for the first time ever

Tuma’s sixth place win in the 100 meter hurdles was gratifying to Jermyn. “Kalli has been such a great leader for us, she has just been great,” he said. “I’m happy that she was able to finish up strong like she did.”

Jermyn is understandably upbeat about his teams looking ahead.

“This puts us in a good mindset for next year,” he said. "There were two things we stressed to the kids this year. One, we wanted to show improvement all season and two, we wanted the kids to show up and compete their best in the big meets.

“I feel like we accomplished both,” he added. "The stress benefited us, we stepped up and competed every time out. And as a coach that’s all I can ask.”

    FIGHT TO THE FINISH – Ethan Walker of Harlem, John Owen Jermyn of Plains and Auston Schellig of Joliet race to the finish line during the finals of the State B 1600 meter run in Missoula Friday. Jermyn held off Walker and Schellig to win the race. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    HIGH STEPPING Plains hurdler Matthew Thurston duels Loyola’s Owen Oliver over the second hurdle of the 110 meter race trials in Missoula May 29. Oliver ended up winning this event but Thurston went on to win crucial fourth place points for the Horsemen in the 300 meter hurdles the next day. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    RACE TO THE FINISH – Plains sophomore Hadyn Rice (right) runs against Cut Bank’s Jaycee Luse during a heat of the girls 100 meter hurdles in Missoula May 29. Rice went on to win fifth place in the finals of this race and threw the javelin a career best 125-2 to win second place in that venue. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)