Starkey, Torgison take second place at state
Zach Urness - Leader Staff
HELENA—Great individual performances from freshman Mesa Starkey (19:33) and senior Logan Torgison (16:05) highlighted the Polson cross country team's trip to the class A state tournament last Saturday, as both runners claimed the second place trophy.
"It was a memorable day at the state meet for the Polson cross country teams," said head coach Matt Seeley. "Results were somewhat mixed as the teams finished a little further down the lists than we had hoped, but we had some outstanding individual performances and every runner gave a phenomenal effort."
While most who followed Polson cross country this year expected Torgison to make a run at first place, the biggest story of the day was Starkey, who came out of nowhere to nearly take the state title.
"Mesa Starkey surprised even herself and really stole the show with an amazing second place finish," said Seeley. "Mesa had been running well all year and improving every week, but no one really expected her to do that well. She started conservatively in about 70th place and had moved up to 25th by the end of the first mile. Hoping for a top 15, I was completely surprised to see her return from the back loop at mile two in fourth place. Riding an emotional and physical high, she continued to move up through the last mile and came within just a few seconds of being a state champion in her first attempt."
Torgison, who has taken third place at state the last two years, came into the race facing a tough challenge to take down Laurel's Patrick Casey, who has lost just one race in the last two years. Torgison finished with a time of 16:05.
"Logan Torgison wrapped up one of the all-time best Pirate running careers with a strong second place finish," said Seeley. "After a calculated start, he made a decisive mid-race surge to break clear of the pack and almost catch heavy favorite Patrick Casey from Laurel. Unfortunately, after a few nervous glances behind, Casey was able to dig down and open up a small gap in the final mile. Logan gave it everything he had, almost pulled the upset, and should be very satisfied with the runner-up spot."
As a team, the boys took ninth place with 219 points and the girls took 11th place with 255 points. Senior RJ Dalke followed Torgison to the line and finished with a time of 18:21.
"RJ came through with a very strong race in his final three-mile tour," commented Seeley.
Sam Boyle finished in the third spot for the Pirates, with a time of 18:28 and coming in right behind him was Kenny Swoope, who had the same time.
"Another bright spot was junior Sam Boyle who finished third for the team with a huge improvement over last year," said Seeley. "Sam saved his best for last and looks to be a real leader for our team in 2008."
Other Polson boys finishing for Polson were Colter Bull (18:33), Calvin Swoope (18:49) and Nathan Poulkish (18:59).
For the girls team, Sierra Pete took 24th place in the race, coming in second on the team with a time of 20:35. Starkey finished with a great time of 19:33.
"Sierra Pete was recovering from an ankle injury at divisionals," said Seeley, "but still managed to work her way up into the top 25."
Senior Kali Cook crossed the line third for Polson in the final race of her high school career, with a time of 21:35. Other runners finishing for the Lady Pirates were Mariah Swan (22:17), Mary Wiedrich (22:45) and Erika Nunlist (23:01).