Bulldogs Visit Pony For The Second Meet
Author: MT43 News sports reporter
MT43 News Sports Reporter
The Bulldog cross-country team was back in action after a week off due to smoke and unseasonably warm temperatures. Their return came to picturesque Pony, Montana on Thursday, September 11th on a true cross-country course looping around town, up and down and up and down again. Assistant coach, Louis Ingalls, recalls the Pony Meet as his favorite from his years running as a Bulldog and the return revealed the true grit of this team.
The Junior Varsity men and women runners were on the course simultaneously to begin the day, with their race inadvertently shortened from the traditional 5K to 4200 meters. The freshmen duo of Addy Mosher (23:34) and Tana Santi (24:18) finished back-to-back in 5th and 6th, while junior Fiona Nelson rounded out the ladies in 16th with a time of 30:19. The men’s JV team scored sixty-one points to place third collectively. First for the Bulldogs was Isaiah Lapsley (19:25) in seventh; following closely were 10th Gavin Johnson (21:00), 11th Urijah Duede (21:27), 15th Trey Coker (23:06) and 22nd Wyatt Coker (27:59).
With a slight course correction, the varsity races were off; first up was the ladies’ race. Kyla Meissner won her second consecutive race of her junior season with a time of 20:17, while sophomore Elaine MacDonald was next in 12th in 23:06. Juniors Arabella McDaniel (24:53) and Shalyn Sentinella (25:19) ran the tough course for the first time, placing 19th and 23rd, respectively.
The men were up next with senior Gavin Green (19:33) leading the way in eighth place and junior Dallas Fligge (19:58) not far behind in 11th. Fellow junior Rylan Hoveland took a tumble near the finish line but recovered to finish in 16th in 20:50. Freshman Clayton Rice (21:59) ran strong in his first varsity race, finishing 25th. Rounding out the team were: 30th Keaton Cavasos (22:17), 33rd Luke Tullos (22:38) and 34th Samuel Flesch (22:59). The men were third overall with 76 points.
The Bulldogs will run next on Saturday, September 20th at the Mountain West Classic at the University of Montana Golf Course in Missoula. Mountain West is by far the largest cross-country meet in Montana with more than 125 high schools scheduled to compete.
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PhotoCredit: MT43 News
Image 1 Caption: Start of the men's varsity race with Bulldogs (L to R): Gavin Green, Rylan Hoveland, Keaton Cavasos, Dallas Fligge, Clayton Rice, Luke Tullos and Sam Flesch. The Three Forks Wolf in the red is former Townsend teammate Jacoby Berg.
Photo Credit: MT43 News Sports Reporter
Image 2 Caption: Sophomore Elaine MacDonald races up one of the hills at the Pony Meet.
Photo Credit: MT43 News Sports Reporter
Image 3 Caption: Junior Dallas Fligge has returned to XC for the first time since 6th grade and is crushing it with a PR at Pony.
Photo Credit: MT43 News Sports Reporter
