Morgan Delaney wins Spokane’s Firman Invite

SPOKANE — Morgan Delaney continued to roll through her senior cross country season Friday, beating a deep, talented field to win the Elite title at the Nike Bob Firman Invitational.

The senior from Polson zipped through The Course-Spokane Valley in a personal-record 17 minutes, 11.2 seconds. Delaney, who was named the MHSA’s Athete of the Week after winning last Saturday’s Mountain West Classic in Missoula, has won all five races she’s entered this season. 

Delaney won Saturday in an event with a lot of Montana flavor: Bozeman sophomore Phoebe Maixner was second at 17:15.1 and Missoula Hellgate’s Reed Stromberg was third at 17:18.3. Glacier’s Ada Thiel (17:26.7) and Lauren Bissen (17:29.7) finished sixth and seventh. 

Thirty-one full Montana teams competed, including Helena, which finished fourth on the girls side, and Bozeman, which was ninth. Sehome out of Bellingham, Washington, won the team crown. 

On the boys side, Bozeman senior Taylor Neil finished seventh at 14:40.6; Yosuke Shibata of South Eugene, Oregon, won in 14:28.0. Helena and Bozeman finished 7-8 in the team standings. Flathead’s Chris Holland hit his PR: 15:58.5.  

Full results can be found at athletic.net.