Area XC teams net 6 all-conf. runners

CLASS A XC - NWA Polson

The Polson High School girls team placed second while the boys finished third Oct. 18 at the Northwestern A conference championships held at the West Glacier Golf Course in Columbia Falls.

The Lady Pirates placed a quartet among the TOP 10 with their fifth member taking 13th place.

As well as they ran, the Whitefish squad ran just a little better by placing their leading quartet among the TOP 5.

Although there was a bit of disappointment about coming up a few points short behind conference champion Whitefish, there were still some great individual performances that were turned in.

Four Lady Pirates earning All Conference accolades, which are bestowed upon the top ten finishers.

Freshman Ryan Harrop placed 4th, while fellow freshman Malia Seeley and sensational sophomore Izabella Seemann both cracked the 21-minute barrier for 6th and 7th place finishes.

 Freshman Quinn Motichka snared the final top ten spot by running her best time of the year.

Sophomore Anna Young finished the scoring for Polson in 13th place.

The Pirate boys team finished third led by an all-conference 7th place finish by freshman Zach Evertz.

Junior Warren Wood battled hard to post his best time of the season, but came up a mere 5.5 hundredths of a second short of squeezing into the TOP 10 for an all-conference accolade. Sophomore Matt Sitter also ran a personal best with an 18th place finish just ahead of a 21st place finish by junior Thunder Morales.

 But coach Matt Seeley conferred the strongest kudos for junior Quaid Harlan who shaved nearly a minute from his previous personal best and moved all the way up into the 5th slot on the team to round out the scoring for the Polson boys.

Freshman Asa Askan also had his best race of the year, dropping 54 seconds from his lifetime best.

The Polson cross-country teams will wrap up their season at the 51st annual Cross-Country State Championships this Saturday at the Bill Roberts Golf Course in Helena.

Coach Seeley and assistant coach Jenni Brown anticipate that Corvallis remains the clear favorite with Whitefish also fielding a very strong girls team

But the Polson girls should be in contention for a shot at grabbing a spot in the top three with a good performance.

 Should the girls elevate their run to match the level of their competition, some of our top Lady Pirates might have a shot at earning All State accolades which are awarded to the top 15 finishers. Leaders among the boys team will likely have to PR their state runs for an opportunity to acquire an all-state acknowledgement.

(See B2 for race results)

CLASS B XC

Ronan,

St. Ignatius

At Ronan this past Friday, the Western B cross-country championships were held for Districts 6B and District 7B runners at the Mission Mountain Golf Course.

Ronan fielded a full contingent for boys and girls teams, while St. Ignatius had three runners participate at the individual level.

For the boys, Ronan had one all-conference finisher in Jackson Duffey, who placed 5th.

The Chiefs also placed a pair of other runners among the TOP 20 in Daniel Koehler (12th) and Nate Dennis (19th).

Tate Weingart of St. Ignatius, who has been running sub-20s all season long in the descending 18s, experienced some cramping issues that he was forced to push through which had a detrimental effect upon his time in the other direction.

The Ronan girls came close to placing a couple of runners on the podium for all-conference recognition.

Although nobody from the Mission Valley finished among the TOP 10, a pair of runners did finish among the TOP 20 with Penni Weyant (13th) and Tashyna Matt (15th) placing in the teens.

The pair of St. Ignatius runners, Shaniya Decker and Tori Peterson, continue to challenge at the threshold of personal bests with Decker only 4 seconds off the pace of a PR.

Both schools will send runners to the all-classification Cross-Country State Championships in Helena held at the Bill Roberts Golf Course on Oct. 25.

Ronan will be sending its top seven runners with a designated alternate should a wrinkle develop in carefully crafted plans.

(See B2 for race results)

CLASS C XC  Charlo, Arlee

At Missoula this past Wednesday, the Charlo cross-country team had a trio of runners participate in the Runner’s Edge Missoula City Meet held at the Linda Vista Golf Course.

Dalton Delaney and Dugan Runkel ran for the Viking boys and Devi Knutson competed for the Lady Viking girls.

Delaney turned in an impressive sub-17 time to place 11th overall.

 If he can turn in a similar performance at the State Championships this Saturday, Charlo could find themselves not only with an all-state runner among the leaders, but the school could also have a representative standing on one of the steps of the awards podium.

In addition, Charlo will also be sending Kyle Couture for the boys and Aislyn Love for the girls to compete at the all classification cross-country State Championships held at the Bill Roberts Golf Course in Helena on Saturday.

LAKE COUNTY SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY RACE RESULTS

6B/7B Cross Country C’ships

Mission Mountain Golf Course Oct. 17 hosted by Ronan High School.

BOYS TEAM

1. T Falls Team 48. 2. Eureka 61. 3. Ronan 87. 4. Loyola 92. No score: Bigfork, Powell, Plains, St. Ignatius

BOYS INDIVIDUALS

05  Duffey, Jackson        Ronan    17:33

13  Koehler, Daniel        Ronan     18:13

19  Dennis, Nathan     Ronan     18:33

25  Detweiler, Kyrie        Ronan    18.59

26  Duffey, Rhett        Ronan    18.59

27  Strange Owl, Malek    Ronan    19.01

35  Koehler, Andrew    Ronan    20.43

38  Weingart, Tate        St. Ig.    21.17

GIRLS TEAM

Bigfork 48, Plains 69, Eureka 79, Loyola Sacred Heart 95, Ronan 97. Also competing: Deer Lodge, St. Ignatius, Thompson Falls.

GIRLS INDIVIDUALS

14 Weyant, Penny        Ronan    22.36

16 Matt,    Tasheena        Ronan    22.59

22 Hendersen, Hallie    Ronan    23.53

24 Sassaman, Kaitlyn    Ronan    24.39

26 Graham, Kaitlyn        Ronan    25.05

28 Decker, Shaniya        St. Ig.    25.11

29 McKenzie, Sara        Ronan    25.12

34 Burland, Ysabelle    Ronan    27.01

36 Delaurenti, Darian    Ronan    28.12

39 Peterson, Tori        St. Ig.    29.50

41 Friedlander, Sam    Ronan    32.16

Polson High School Cross Country

2014 NW A Conference C’ships        Saturday, Oct. 18

West Glacier Golf Course

Course:  3 miles  Coaches:  Seeley & Brown

GIRLS TEAM

Whitefish – 31, Polson – 40, Columbia Falls – 57, Frenchtown – 120, Libby - 126

GIRLS  INDIVIDUAL

4 Ryan Harrop        7:04    7:01    6:25 20:30

6 Malia Seeley         7:04       7:01 6:40 20:45  

7 Iz. Seemann        7:04 7:01 6:45 20:50

10 Quinn Motichka        7:05    7:10    7:13 21:28

13 Anna Young        7:05    7:35    7:21 22:01

19 Sierra Garcia        7:28    8:19    7:45 23:32

23 N. Wheeler        7:32    8:17    7:53 23:42

DNR Hannah Madsen 23:07    

BOYS TEAM

Frenchtown – 28, Whitefish – 37, Polson – 79, Columbia Falls – 95, Libby – 146

BOYS INDIVIDUAL

7 Zach Evertz        5:48  6:13  5:48  17:50

11 Warren Wood        5:50  6:24  5:47  18:01

18 Matt Sitter        6:00  6:37  6:05  18:42

21 Thunder Morales    5:59  6:47  6:22  19:08

22 Quaid Harlan        6:14  6:50  6:10  19:14

26 Grant Clark        6:12  7:03  6:47  20:02

28 Wyatt Benson        6:00  6:58  7:22  20:20

20JV Asa Askan        6:38  7:24  7:05  21:07

13JV Daniel Omeasoo    7:06  8:30  7:54  23:30

POLSON CROSS COUNTRY STATE QUALIFIERS

The Pirate boys and girls XC teams will run at the State Meet in Helena on Saturday, Oct. 25.  There is no qualifying for State XC in Montana as every team is allowed to enter 7 runners every year.  There just aren’t enough teams to justify narrowing it down.  Class A is the largest race with roughly 27 teams. From Coach Matt Seeley

GIRLS (8) - Ryan Harrop 9, Quinn Motichka 9, Malia Seeley 9, Anna Young 10, Sierra Garcia 10, Hannah Madsen 10, Isabella Seemann 10, Natalie Wheeler 11

BOYS (8) -  Grant Clark 12, Zach Evertz 9, Quaid Harlan 11

Warren Wood 11, Wyatt Benson 10, Matt Sitter 10, Thunder Morales 11, Asa Askan 9

RONAN CROSS COUNTRY STATE QUALIFIERS

BOYS (7) - Rhett Duffey, Jackson Duffey, Daniel Koehler, Andrew Koehler, Malik Strange Owl, Kiry Detwiler, and Nate Dennis.

GIRLS (8) -  Tashyna Matt, Penny Weyant, Hallie Henderson, Kaitlyn Sassaman, Kaitlyn Graham, Sarah McKenzie, Ysabelle Burland, and alternate: Darian Delaurenti. From coach Noelle Coach Decker.

CHARLO HIGH SCHOOL PLAYOFF SCENARIOS

Charlo will have a girls and boys team running in the State Cross Country meet. The volleyball team just won the conference title and will have its District tourney next week in St Regis. The football team made the playoffs and will play in the first round next Nov. 1.  From AD Thom Peck

RE MISSOULA CITY MEET, LINDA VISTA GC, MISSOULA

Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014

Boys - 11, Dalton Delaney  16:36.98, Ch; 62, Dugan Runkel 20:40.51, Ch

Girls -  48, Devi Knutson  23:46.95, Ch,

RE Missoula City Meet full results - http://competitivetiming.com/results/145235S

 ARLEE CROSS COUNTRY STATE QUALIFIERS

Arlee will be sending eight runners to the State meet, a quartet of both boys and girls.  In addition to the trio that ran at the Seeley Swan Invite, the Arlee girls will include Amelia North, Aly North and Naomi Plant.  Also representing the Arlee boys will be Chase Wiley and Sequoia Wiley.

Seeley Swan XC Invite,  Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014

Girls - 2, Becca Whitesell  22:41

Boys - 2, Parker Holz 21:03, Ivory Brien 25:06