Jason Delaney figured that when he took his Mission Mountain Mercury track crew to the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, Oregon, they’d have to hit certain spots.

Track Town Pizza. “Pre’s Rock,” the shrine built near the spot running legend Steve Prefontaine lost his life in a 1975 automobile crash. 

The podium. 

OK, the last is sort of a surprise. 

“We wound up 12th as a club,” Delaney said this week from his office in Polson. “Which wasn’t on my radar at all. The top eight places score and three athletes scored in four events.  

“Twelfth out of I don’t know how many teams.”  

The answer is 191, which made Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus a busy place from June 18-22. Navigating that sea of athletes were nine Mercury distance runners: Owen Thiel out of Glacier; Porter Shehan, an incoming freshman out of Whitefish; Capri Farmer of Libby; Ada Thiel and Dacia Benkelman of Glacier; Annalise Lewis out of Hamilton; Addison Kegel from Billings Central; and Morgan and Quinn Delaney out of Polson. 

Morgan Delaney took third in the Women’s Championship 5,000 meters, clocking 16:28.21; she was also a second-team All-America finisher (in 13th) in the 2-mile.  

Kegel finished third in that 2-mile on Saturday; the next day she finished fourth in the 1-mile. 

Owen Thiel finished fifth in the Men’s Championship 5,000, in 14:24.35. 

All of these are certainly highlights, but not Jason Delaney’s favorite. That was the State Distance Medley Relay, in which daughter Morgan joined Lewis, Thiel and Kegel and covered 4,000 meters in 11:57.28. The all-Mercury squad was tucked in between Oregon and Michigan, taking sixth (Indiana won in 11:36.99).   

“They didn’t run necessarily their best performances, but I really enjoyed the camaraderie and how well they competed on tired legs,” Delaney said. “Three of them had run the Championship Mile an hour before.” 

For the record, a mixed Montana crew of Alex Kowalski (Helena), Owen Thiel, Reid Bartholomew (Bozeman-Gallatin) and Wilson Schmidt (Belgrade) took eighth in the Men’s State DMR 4,000.  

Before the carloads headed out on the 11-hour return trip – before Delaney’s 13-year-old son left a baseball card at Pre’s Rock – there was one other race of note: The Coaches Mile. 

Delaney was third out of 51 competitors, clocking 4:36.50. “Kind of surprised myself,” said the 46-year-old, who has now run the mile under 5 minutes for 31 straight years. 

What shouldn‘t be a surprise is how good Montana athletes are on the big stage. Kegel and Morgan Delaney had been competitors; for a weekend at least they were teammates. 

“They didn’t know always know each other very well,” Jason Delaney said. “I would say they definitely bonded over the last couple weeks. That’s the great thing about track.  

“You love to see them come together. They’re really making each other better in the long run.” 

Sports Editor Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 406-758-4463 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.