Pirates cross-country teams take second and third in Libby
POLSON - Polson High School cross-country coach Mindy Harwood and assistant coach Matt Seeley were smiling broadly after the season opening cross-country meet in Libby last Saturday.
The boys varsity runners took second place and the girls third in the meet that featured runners from 14 AA, A, B Montana and Idaho teams, including eight full teams.
Top Pirate in the standings was senior Grant Casey, who is running cross-country for the first time this year. His time of 16:53 for the three-mile course was good enough for a ninth place overall finish.
Second place Pirate finisher was freshman Logan Torgison, running his first cross-country contest. His time was 17:28 for 20th place overall.
Coach Harwood said that she knew Torgison would be a strong competitor because "he broke Fritz Friesz's time trial record." Friesz now runs for the University of Montana.
Next came senior Olin McCrumb and sophomore Chris Ogle with 17:29 each to place 21st and 22nd. Hot on their heels were senior David Ring, 17:30, and junior Kevin Love, 17:33, for 24th and 25th, respectively. Jake Clairmont turned in a time of 19:02 for 42nd place.
Harwood termed the 41-second spread between Polson's first and sixth place finishers "exceptional. Anytime you can the top runners can be within a minute is good. And the spread between second and sixth was only five seconds."
The Lady Pirate varsity runners were the third place team and were led by senior Sam Campbell whose 20:09 was good for sixth overall.
Freshman Alex Noble, ran "exceptional race for her first ever" cross-country meet. Her time of 21:19, was 16th overall. Next came Tanna Bull, a sophomore, with 22:12 and 24th place; Leslie Patterson, 22:28, for 27th overall; freshman Kali Cook, 22:38, 30th place; senior Sam Pitts was 34th overall with 23:11.
Harwood said, Kelsie Delaney, who had been sidelined with injuries, "ran a true comeback race" to cross the line in 23:40 for 39th place.
She said, "We were really pleased with the running of both the boys and girls." The girls paired off in twos while the boys ran in one big pack.
Putting frosting on the performance cake for the Lady Pirates was the junior varsity team. The Lady Jayvees were led by sophomore Franny Bumgarner with a time of 24:05.
"This was supposed to be our rebuilding year," Harwood said, "so to do this well this early in the season is amazing."
She praised the efforts of her assistant coach, triathlete ironman Matt Seeley, who succeeded last year's assistant Val Broyles.
The Pirates head for Kalispell this Saturday for the huge Flathead Invitational Cross Country meet. There will be teams from eastern and western Montana and probably several from the Spokane area as well. Action starts at 10 a.m.