Cross Country Update: Visitors dominate Ronan run
<p>Mission’s Kaylie Durglo finishes just ahead of a pack of other runners in Friday’s Ronan Invitational cross country meet.</p>
RONAN — Mission Mountain Golf Course was filled with runners rather than golfers on Friday afternoon for the Ronan Invitational.
Local teams were outshined by visiting larger Class A schools, as Corvallis and Whitefish finished one-two in both the boys and girls races.
Ronan and Arlee fielded enough boys to score, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. Arlee was the only Class C school to field a team at the event.
Individually, Charlo’s Dalton Delaney finished 12th (18:33) in the Vikings’ first year as a separate cross country program.
Zach Felsman of Arlee notched an 18th-place finish, and the Warriors’ Isaac Desjarlais finished 24th.
Corvallis’ Ronald Venema took first, timing in at 16:55.
The Maidens were the only team with enough runners to score in the girls run, finishing sixth of seven teams. Ronan’s Kiana Howell set the pace, finishing 23rd with a 22:56. Mission’s Kaylie Durglo also finished in the top 30 with a time of 23:17.
Isabella Pape of Corvallis won the race, posting an 18:19 run in the 5k event.
Results
Boys
Team Totals
Corvallis 36, Whitefish 58, Thompson Falls 113, Frenchtown 120, Missoula Loyola 131, Columbia Falls 187, Ronan 199, Arlee 215, Plains 230.
Girls
Team Totals
Corvallis 25, Whitefish 77, Columbia Falls 101, Missoula Loyola 116, Plains 142, Ronan 192, Frenchtown 219.
In other cross country news, Polson’s Claudia Hewston won the Highlander Invitational 4k race in Spokane, Wash. on Saturday, leading the Pirate girls to victory as well.
Hewston ran a 16:28 and was closely followed by Isabella Seemann (17:36) who finished seventh. Tegan Bauer also finished in the top 15, running a 17:55, as did Anna Young (15th, 18:14).
Polson’s girls team scored a 57, edging Lewis and Clark (Wash.) by four points to win the meet. Medical Lake (Wash.) finished third with 64 points.
“Hopefully this is just the beginning of the great things that this team will do together this year,” coach Matt Seeley said.
On the boys end, Polson’s Tel Motichka finished top 20 against some of the region’s top runners. Motichka ran the 4k race in 14:06.
Polson freshman Wyatt Benson dropped more than two minutes from his personal best at the meet, running a 17:11.
Runners from Mission and Polson’s JV teams ran in Kalispell on Saturday. Tate Weingart led the Bulldogs with a 20:26 run, followed by Andrew Esslinger (21:40) and Ethan Goss-Dickie (23:19).