Seeley takes over as head coach of Polson cross country

POLSON — The Polson cross county team has a new head coach who knows a thing or two about running.

Last year's assistant Matt Seeley takes over this year as head coach. Seeley is a professional triathlete during the summer and ran in college at Cornell University in New York. Seeley is taking over after Mindy Harwood coached the Pirates for the past 14 years.

"It's going to be hard following in the footsteps of Harwood, who did it for 14 years at Polson," Seeley said.

During Harwood's coaching days she had multiple state champions and built a solid foundation for Seeley to grow on, he said.

"My cross county coach in high school made a big impact on me as a athlete. I have been dreaming of having a cross county team to work with and have that impact on them as athletes and young adults," said Seeley.

This year the team has 20 runners split right down the middle —10 boys and 10 girls.

"We are down (numbers) a little bit from last year. We had 28 runners last season," Seeley said.

This year the Pirates will be without Sam Campbell, Sam Pitts, Olin McCrumb, Grant Casey and David Ring, who graduated last spring.

"Those were some of our top varsity runners," Seeley said.

The Pirates only have two seniors on the boys team and no senior girls.

"We come in this year with a really young team," said Seeley "It's a younger team and will be nice for me to come on with people I know and some who are young that I can get to know."

One of the seniors is Kevin Love who ran last year and Seeley is looking forward to some good things from him this season. Tanner Tompkins is the other senior.

"Tanner looks pretty strong. He does not have a lot of experience with running but has a good build and is a hard worker for being a new runner," Seeley said.

Returning this year is Chris Ogle, one of the top 800-meter runners in spring track.

"He is going to be one of the leaders on the boys side since he is experienced," said Seeley.

One of the strongest runners set to make an impact this season is sophomore Logan Torgison who was a top placer for the Pirates last season at the State Class A meet. Torgison finished 15th in Montana State Class A and was the top freshman in the state.

"He is a hard worker and has put in a lot of training during the summer," Seeley said.

On the girls side Kali Cook and Alex Noble come in as strong sophomore leaders.

"The two of them will be a great team punch," said Seeley.

Also this season the team welcomed junior Emily Pyles to the team, who is a first year runner.

"Emily has come on the team and should be right up there," Seeley said.

Kelsie Delaney returns this year in her third year of running and is poised to be one of the team leaders.

"She has been taking the leadership role (at practice)," said Seeley.

This year both teams look to build on last season's fourth place spot at state.

"We were one spot off the podium last year and that has motivated them this year," Seeley said.

Last season Ronan got the upper hand on Polson almost every time last season and the Pirates are ready to battle it out this year, according to Seeley.

"It will be a good battle every time we run against Ronan this year," he added.

Seeley said he is working on endurance and speed during practices. The team has been practicing at some of the parks in town and sometimes they take the bus to go run trails or roads outside of town. This Friday will be the team's three-mile time trials and should be a good way to judge how things are coming together.

Polson's first meet will be Friday Sept. 2, at the Libby Invite.