Pirates cross country gains experience at invitational

PABLO — The Polson Lady Pirates cross country team got to see some top-notch caliber competition at the annual Polson Pirates Invitational Saturday at the Silverfox Golf Course in Pablo.

The Lady Pirates’ No. 1 runner Bea Frissell got an opportunity to race against one of the best high school prep participants in any sport all across the country against Glacier’s prominent No. 1 runner Annie Hill.

Hill, who defeated Frissell with a time of 16 minutes, 52.39 seconds, lived up to her billing as one of the top 5 cross country runners in the entire country.

Frissell, who finished second in the race to Hill and finished first among runners in her class with a time a time of 18 minutes, 53.53 seconds, is still getting reacclimated to the sport of cross country after electing to play soccer instead. This season is Frissell’s first year as a cross country runner since she last participated in middle school.

“I would say, based on her track effort last spring, I knew (Frissell) was capable of some great stuff,” Cross country coach Matt Seeley said. “I wasn’t sure how soon she would be able to adapt to the high school competition but she has just been motivated since transferring from a different sport. Every time she does a workout, I feel really good about it. You can just see how well she is running, enjoying it, and how motivated she is to excel.”

Frissell responded to the challenge of Big Fork’s Anya Young, who ended up finishing third behind Frissell and Hill. Young finished with a time of 6 minutes, 4.29 seconds.

“Bea was in a pretty good battle,” Seeley said. “Frissell and Young battled pretty much the whole way and Bea was behind her. She achieved one of her goals of running a race under the 19-minute barrier and she was pretty happy with that. Any time you go under the 19-minute barrier, you always have a shot at the state championship. She wanted to stay in competition for the top spot and that was really good that she achieved her goal on her home course.”

Seeley said he was “pleased” with the performance of Molly Sitter. Sitter finished with a time of 20 minutes, 29.65 seconds.

“She really stepped it up a notch,” Seeley said.

Hill and Brissell are just some of the crop that is emerging in the Montana area, according to Seeley.

“Montana has had a surprising crop of runners emerge over the last couple of years,” Seeley said. “Annie came across the valley at Glacier and had two of the middle schools fastest times ever run by a middle schooler in the nation. Sometimes when you get a runner of the caliber of Hill, they don’t race in standard high school competition and will enter more regional competition. Even though our event was smaller, it was kind of cool to have her run in our event. There are a lot of spectators that don’t know what level of competition they are observing and the caliber of her running ability.”

Young Pirates continue to gain experience

The young Polson Pirates’ boys cross country team still is gaining plenty of experience from participating at bigger meets like this, according to Seeley.

“They ran pretty well and unusually strong,” Seeley said. “This format puts a little more pressure on them to match up in one-on-one battles with other schools. “Their team is really strong and equal between five or six runners. We competed well against Columbia Falls, had some of our best times of the year, and a pretty good effort to continue to improve.”

Seeley said he was “pleased” with Quin Stewart, Matt Sitter, Zach Evertz, and Jonah DuCharme’s races.

“Stewart is pretty consistently our top runner,” Seeley said. “With Matt, Zach, and Jonah, we are trying to get them to work together as a pack because they aren’t improving as much as some of the younger guys. The strongest teams at state are tight as a pack.”

Seeley said he felt like his young boy runners are still a “work in progress.”

“Our team has multi-sport athletes such as baseball players and tennis players,” Seeley said. “We are working towards getting our boys team up to the same level. Many of them are improving as sophomores and freshmen this year and they are really starting to come along.”

The following are the results for the Polson Lady Pirates Varsity: 2. Bea Frissell: 18:53; 9. Molly Sitter: 6:33; 16. Gwen Seeley 6:52; 23. Malia Seeley 23:00.45; 24. Quin Motichka 23:01.12; 28. Sierra Garcia 26:00.05.

The following are the results for the Polson Pirates Varsity: 7. Quin Stewart 5:39.06; 10. Zach Evertz 18:06.97; 11. Matt Sitter 5:08.88; 17. Makauly Morrison 6:16.75; 18. Jonah DuCharme 5:46.81; 20. Kedrick Baker 19:18.78; 21.Wyatt Benson 19:28.51.

The following are the results for the Polson Pirates Varsity: 7. Quin Stewart 5:39.06; 10. Zach Evertz 18:06.97; 11. Matt Sitter 5:08.88; 17. Makauly Morrison 6:16.75; 18. Jonah DuCharme 5:46.81; 20. Kedrick Baker 19:18.78; 21.Wyatt Benson 19:28.51.