Pirates take second at the Northwest divisional conference Championships

Kelsy Delaney

for the Leader

The Polson Cross Country teams took second at the Conference Championship meet in Libby last Saturday.

They had five all Conference runners, three boys and two girls. Freshman Logan Torgison led the boys with a fourth place finish in 16:47, followed by senior Olin McCrumb, 6th in 16:55, and senior Grant Casey, 8th in 16:56. The girls were led by senior Sam Campbell, 3rd in 19:45, and freshman Alex Noble, 5th in 20:05. Freshman Kali Cook missed all conference by one place, finishing 11th in 21:03.

Behind Casey was junior Kevin Love finishing 17:27 in 16th place and sophomore Chris Ogle, 18th in 17:35. The last two varsity runners were senior David Ring, 21st in 17:48 and freshman Jake Clairmont, 22nd in 17:56.

Running next for the girls was sophomore NaTesha Arlint, 17th in 21:27, closely followed by freshman Naomi Durham, 18th in 21:28. Behind Durham was sophomores Tanna Bull, running a 21:56, and Kelsie Delaney, 23rd in 22:01.

iI felt that we ran very well for the conditions,i said head coach Mindy Harwood. iDue to the rain we had several kids go down on the first steep downhill run. It was kind of like a slip en slide. That took a few kids out of their race, unfortunately. We were predicted to take second in both races and we did, so it was a pretty good day overall.i

The team heads to Helena next for the State Championships which will take place Saturday on the Bill Roberts Golf Course. The Class A girls run at 11:00 a.m., and the Class A boys run at 12:10. Polson's teams are both ranked in the top four in the state.

The alternate runners for state will be sophomore Conlin Benson, who finished 23rd in 17:58, and freshman Merilee Mowbray, 24th in 22:12.