Pirates, Lady Pirates CC excel in Battle Of The 509 meet
Polson runner Bea Frissell carried on her recent trend of winning races at the NIKE Battle For the 509 cross country race Saturday in Cheney, Wash.
Frissell’s time of 18 minutes, 23 seconds was enough to capture her second-consecutive race. The Lady Pirates, Pirates were originally scheduled to race at the Hamilton Invitational but because they were smoked out at their annual Spokane race, they changed their course to participate in a regional race in Washington.
“Bea is having a great year, we are now five races (into the season) and she is improving in every single race,” Lady Pirates’ coach Matt Seeley said. “She was under six minutes per each mile and ran at that pace to run at 18 minutes, 24 seconds. She looked really strong and everything is just kind of clicking for her. This race was an opportunity to really showcase what she was able to do right now.”
Other standout racers for the Lady Pirates included Naima Crowl, who finished with a time of 19 minutes, 6.17 seconds en route to a fifth place finish and Molly Sitter finished ninth recording a time of 20 minutes, 3.47 seconds.
The top-tier runners on the Lady Pirates’ squad will be challenged as they prepare to head into the Mountain West Classic Saturday at Missoula. Seeley said the race draws top-caliber talent from Eastern Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.
“We will have a chance to show what we can do right now and hopefully, we will get faster as we move towards the state meet,” Seeley said. “The Pacific Northwest is a really competitive region and it draws from the whole region. It will be a pretty exciting race and it will be great to see Bea compete against the rest of the girls on Saturday.”
Recently, the Pacific-Northwest has boasted of some of the top-tier runners in the country, Seeley said.
“Over the years we’ve had a lot of top runners and year after year, we’ve had some of the top runners in the nation,” Seeley said of the running talent in the area. “For being in a mostly rural area that is pretty impressive to have the kind of talent we’ve had in our region. There will be quite a few girls in Montana running that are quite fast. It is always pretty incredible to see how competitive our region is and we draw some of the top runners around four states or more.”
Pirates cross country continues to show signs of improvement
For the last couple of years the Polson Pirates boys cross country team has been young with a lot of potential.
Now, according to Seeley, his boys team is starting to showcase its potential as they move forward.
“This is one of the best boys teams that we’ve had in a while and they are still young,” Seeley said. “We’ve had 19 out of 25 kids run their best times ever and to have 19 out of 25 kids run their personal best, it is a good day. We’ve had six boys ranked under 19 minutes and that is pretty awesome for a varsity group.”
Quin Stewart was one of the boys runners whose time of 17 minutes, 21 seconds to finish 17th really stood out for the Pirates.
Another freshman runner that really showcased his talent, according to Seeley, was Mason Sloan. Sloan ran a time of 18 minutes, 11 seconds in the freshman race.
“Sloan’s performance was a really cool thing that happened in our freshman race,” Seeley said. “Sloan started in 15th place and then took the lead in the last mile. He finished second amongst the freshman and that was quite an exciting moment for him and the team.”
Lady Pirates, Pirates prepare for Mountain West challenge
The Pirates and Lady Pirates cross country team will have an opportunity to showcase their talent at the Mountain West Classic Saturday at Missoula.
The team will not only get to see other regional talent but also get a chance to look at other talent state-wide they might eventually compete with at the Class A state cross country championship.
“This will be our first chance to go head-to-head against a lot of Montana schools and a lot of them on the east side,” Seeley said. “One team we will get to see on the girls side will be Hardin. They were the defending state champions and we will get to run against them at the Mountain West.”
Seeley said the course will present some challenges for his team.
“The course is mountain, hilly, and there is one significant hill that it is known among the kids as being notoriously tough,” Seeley said. “It is an amazing race. There are 600 kids in one race and you can just hear the feet thundering as the racers go on by.”
Because of the large race and terrain, Seeley said the race will give his team a chance to use strategy to overcome the challenges of this course.
“The conventional wisdom of an endurance event is to pace yourself well,” Seeley said. “Positioning becomes really important as the start of the race. A lot of teams will go faster than they do because if you don’t, then you get behind too many kids. To come from behind in this race is a little tough and you can’t move forward. Sometimes you just have to be patient and not get too worried about waiting for things to open up for you earlier in the race.”
This week the Polson Pirates, Lady Pirates cross country team will compete in the Western Mountain Classic Saturday at Missoula.
The following are the results at the last race the Pirates, Lady Pirates cross country team participated in:
NIKE Battle for the 509
Fairways GC
Cheney, Wash.
Sat. September 23, 2017
Girls Varsity team scores – 1, Gonzaga Prep 75; 2, Polson 80; 3, Lakeside (Nine Mile) 92; 4, University 103; 5, Mead 118; 6, Cheney 119; 7, Post Falls 130; 8, Riverside 185; 9, Asotin 214.
Individual placers
POLSON only (3 races)
Varsity – 1, Bea Frissell, 18:23.74; 5, Naima Crowl 19:06.17; 9, Molly Sitter 20:03.47; 34, Gwen Seeley 21:38.20; 38, Sadia Wahl 21:45.95; 49, Malia Seeley 22:25.66; 58, Shayla Olson 23:35.18.
JV – 63jv, Elisabeth Bjorge 28:49.55
Frosh – 10fr, Nina Barfoot 22:54; 14fr, MaryGold Houk 23:40.
BOYS
Varsity team scores – 1, Mead 53; 2, Gonzaga Prep 55; 3, Central Valley 110; 4, Riverside 160; 12, Polson 273.
POLSON only (3 races)
Varsity – 20, Quin Stewart 17:22.29; 48, Jonah Ducharme 18:06.68; 71, Andrew Reed 18:36.85; 72, Kedrick Baker 18:39.43; 77, Zach Evertz 18:53.64; 107, Makauly Morrison 21:36.04;
JV –37jv, Kasen Heninger 19:37.77; 39jv, David Castillo 19:42.37; 62jv, Johnny Moore 20:23.01; 70jv, Aubrey Frissell 20:30.93; 128jv, Jarius Smith 22:31.73; 147, Daniel Pepion 23:39.03.
Frosh – 2fr, Mason Sloan 18:10.73; 37fr, Sean Stewart 21:10.52; 63fr, Xavier Pierre 22:45.42.