Pirates, Lady Pirates cross country gets ready for action

The Polson Lady Pirates cross country team will return one of the most decorated runners in the state — Bea Frissell — as they prepare to enter the 2018 fall cross country season.

Frissell, who captured a Montana High School Association state cross country individual title last year, hopes to add to her growing list of accomplishments as the Pirates’ cross country team preps for this season.

“The unfortunate thing is that we are going to be really thin as far as numbers and that is really unfortunate,” Lady Pirates coach Matt Seeley said. “Bea and Molly Sitter are the two best runners on our front. We are pretty thinned out because we have a lot of girls on our team that have never run cross country before.”

Despite having a small team this year, Seeley knows Frissell has a chance to compile some more accolades before the conclusion of her running career at Polson.

“She is one of those dreams runners from a coaches standpoint and she has been from the beginning,” Seeley said. “She is motivated to work hard, she is fairly humble and quiet when you are talking to her and just an amazing competitor. Every year she just gets stronger and stronger.”

Frissell has carved out a reputation as one of the toughest runners in the state of Montana as she prepares to enter her senior year with multiple colleges looking at her.

“She has earned a reputation for being tough to beat amongst the rest of the girls and trained harder this summer than she ever has,” Seeley said. “(Because of her success), she has a bigger mark on her at times. The things that college coaches are interested in is to see how you mix it up with the top girls and try to improve your times. She is one of those competitors that will probably be tough for runners all year long.”

With success comes company and many runners will be trying to best Frissell this year, according to Seeley.

“When you get to a point and a level that she is a marked runner, every race there are younger girls and other girls that try to beat her and give her their best race,” Seeley said. Every time she goes out (and competes), there is a lot of pressure on her. When it comes to trying to improve herself, she wants to get better and continue working this year. That really keeps her hungry and even though she is much better and striving for a faster and stronger race, I think the prospect of earning a scholarship is something that is motivating to her right now. Talking about college, hopefully she continues to get better as she moves on.”

Molly Sitter provides a reliable No. 2 for Frissell as she enters her senior year.

“She had a really good strong finish to her track season when she finished sixth in the 3,200 and that was an eye-opening race,” Seeley said. “Those last couple of races in track ,she just pushed herself and went even harder then she know she could before. She is clearly is coming back well and she’ll be pretty motivated to move up in the top-five or top-10 finish at state.”

Because she practices with Frissell, Sitter is additionally motivated by the standard she sets, according to Seeley.

“She has quite a high standard to compare to every day,” Seeley said. “She is at practice and knows what it takes, and sees Bea every day in practice and is motivated to work hard. They are the best one-two punch Polson will have all year.”

Gwen Seeley will be another runner that could make an impact for Polson this season.

“It’s really hard to know Gwen qualified to state at the 3,200 in track and had a strong cross country experience and hopefully will be improving her junior year,” Seeley said.

The rest of the team will be relatively young and Seeley and his coaching staff will continue to work hard to try to motivate their team.

“This is where coaching becomes really important when we are coaching young runners,” Seeley said. “We have to make sure that we are building their confidence. They understand how running works and it is neat to develop young runners. They do things that you don’t expect sometimes. They even surprise themselves. You just never know.”

Pirates’ runners look to shed ‘potential’ label

For the last couple of seasons, the Pirates’ boys cross country team has been filled with promise, youth and potential. This year a more mature senior-heavy team hopes to make an immediate impact.

“I think some of our guys are moving into their senior year so we feel we have some experience,” Seeley said. “We have a pretty strong group of five seniors and that is more than we’ve had in a while. We’ve had some good leadership and good experiences.”

The Pirates runners also boast of a total of 19-20 runners headed into the season.

Some of the top-tier runners include Quin Stewart, Mason Sloan and Kasen Hininger.

Stewart has clearly over the last couple of years set the standard for the Polson boy’s running team and this year hopes to capitalize on his level of experience.

“He is the clear standard because Stewart is a returning all-state cross country runner and finished seventh last year.” Seeley said. “It was a magical end to his track season. He is pretty modest and quiet when you talk to him but is a real competitor. Sometimes when there are people ahead of you that graduate, you move right up there and become one of the top guys in the state of Montana. He’ll be one to watch.”

Another runner that continues to be up-and-coming is Jonah Ducharme.

“Jonah is a real leader, was with us last year and had a great race at state,” Seeley said. “The next guy is Mason Sloan and he was the second fastest freshman in the state last year. He had a great race as a freshman. He has a swimming background, is a really fit kid and should be right up there in the mix.”

Other notables Seeley mentioned include Heninger, Kellen Norman and Kade Lanier.

Seeley said he felt this team had some talent coming up through the system to compliment some of his more experienced runners.

“I’ve got two freshmen that I’ve had a real eye on and both are looking good in practice,” Seeley said. “You never know what you are going to get but we have very tough kids that work hard every single day.”