Cross Country Meet in Butte
Author: MT43 News Sports Reporter
Cross Country Meet in Butte
Melissa Meissner
Cross Country Correspondent
It was a beautiful sunshiny, what you would call, a Chamber of Commerce Day in Butte last Friday for the large group of spectators enjoying the Butte High XC Invitational. For the competitors, however, combining the words “warm and sunny” with an afternoon start makes for an uncomfortable run. However, the Broadwater Bulldogs were up to the task with 3 of them clocking their season-best times and another 6 recording their personal best times at 5K!
The Junior Varsity Girls were the first to the course at high noon; a two-loop path meandering around Highland View Golf Course on a fairly flat surface where the runners stay within view for the entire 3.1-mile race. Scarlett McDaniel (25:03) crossed under the arches first for the Bulldogs in 68th, while Melania Lambott placed 157th, Grace Kroeger (29:52) finished 171st, and Fiona Nelson (38:55) came in 202nd. Melania took off one minute and twenty-eight seconds for her personal best time of 28:36.
Next up were the Junior Varsity Boys with the largest field of the day of 277 runners. Ryland Hoveland clocked his personal best time of 21:11 to come in 143rd, while Ross McDonald recorded his season’s best time of 22:16 to place 176th. These two gentlemen have shortened their times each week of the four weeks of the season so far, remarkable considering the varying courses and conditions. Rounding out the JV boys were: Kaden Bruins (23:07) in 212th, Luke Tullos (24:58) in 242th, Wyatt Coker (25:41) in 251st, and Keaton Cavasos (26:25) in 257th. Both Luke and Keaton also recorded their personal best times at 5K by 1:15 and 0:25, respectively.
The Varsity Girls’ gun blew at 1:10 with Freshman Kyla Meissner crossing the finish line 20 minutes and 46 seconds later coming in 20th. Junior Kaelyn Sangray was not far behind in 37th place in 21:29, which is her personal best time in her career. The Bulldogs did not run the Butte Invitational last year, so the last direct comparison would be 2021’s race. Kaelyn improved on that time by over two minutes; she has shown similar improvement each week this season regardless of the course! Abby Wickens rounded out the Varsity team coming in 73rd with her season’s best time of 23:04.
Completing the day for the Bulldogs were the Varsity Boys with Junior Nolan Flynn leading the way in 100th with a time of 19:17. Right behind were Seniors Connor Lamb and Aiden Easter in 106th and 112th, respectively. Connor’s time of 19:35 was his personal best, while Aiden’s 19:54 was his season’s best.
Coming up Saturday, September 23rd will be the Mountain West Classic in Missoula featuring over 80 schools from all of Montana’s classes as well as schools from Idaho and Washington. It is a difficult course with a decent amount of incline and easily the largest high school cross-country meet of the year aside from the state competition.
The following week will be the Headwaters Invitational in Three Forks on Friday morning, September 29th at the Headwaters Golf Course. This will be the first real chance for our Bulldogs to show how competitive they are against runners from their own division.
