The Mountain West Classic Cross Country Meet
Author: MT43 News sports reporter
MT43 News Sports Reporter
The Mountain West Classic held at the University of Montana Golf Course is one of the premier cross-country races in the Pacific Northwest. Saturday, September 20th was a beautiful morning as over three thousand runners from across Montana, Idaho and Washington, representing 124 high schools, fifty-four middle schools and eight running clubs, took the course.
Head coach Brooke Dolan has her team in great form as 11 Bulldogs ran their personal best (PR) time, while six more ran a season’s best (SR). Meets like the Mountain West bring a huge field, and most competitors rely on their time to determine their success. Generally considered a difficult course as there is a giant hill, approximately two miles into the race, it will also be the location of the Montana all-state cross country meet on October 25th.
478 junior varsity ladies took to the course to start the morning. Arabella McDaniel (23:41 SR) finished first for the Bulldogs in 98th. Following her were Shalyn Sentinella (24:53 PR), Addy Mosher (25:55 PR), Tana Santi (25:57 PR) and Fiona Nelson (33:30 SR) in 156th, 233rd, 236th and 447th, respectively.
Up next for the Bulldogs were the Junior Varsity Men in the largest field of the day of 652 hoofers. Junior Luke Tullos (20:37 SR) led the Bulldogs by placing 187th. Clayton Rice (20:42 PR) in 196th and Samuel Flesch (21:32 PR) in 301st both looked strong. Next up were a trio of first year runners: Isaiah Lapsley (21:41 PR) in 316th, Gavin Johnson (22:00 PR) in 345th, and Urijah Duede (23:06 PR) in 437th. The Coker brothers, Trey (25:33 PR) and Wyatt (30:02 SR) in 567th and 635th completed the team, which finished in 36th with a combined score of 985 points.
The Varsity Men were next with 590 runners on the course. Dallas Fligge (18:13 PR) has gotten faster with each start of the young season, finishing 208th. Rounding out the men’s team were: 309th Gavin Green (19:04), 420th Rylan Hoveland (20:14 SR) and 526th Keaton Cavasos (21:52).
It was close to noon when the 486 Varsity Ladies started, but it was worth the wait. Kyla Meissner grabbed a top ten finish, placing seventh with a PR of 19:03 in an elite field of runners. Elaine MacDonald (21:11 SR) was 101st overall and 11th among Montana’s Class B runners.
By press time, the Bulldogs will have competed on Thursday, September 25th in Butte at Highland View Golf Course. Next on the schedule will be the fast Headwaters Invitational in Three Forks on the morning of Friday, October 3rd. The first race starts at 10:00, so make the short drive to cheer on this amazing team!
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PhotoCredit: See captions
Image 1 Caption: Junior Luke Tullos leads the Bulldog men in the JV race in Missoula.
Photo Credit: MT43 News Sports Reporter
Image 2 Caption: Junior Bella McDaniel shaves almost 2 minutes off her time from last year's Mountain West Classic.
Photo Credit: MT43 News Sports Reporter
Image 3 Caption: Kyla Meissner and Elaine MacDonald are all smiles before the start of the ladies' Varsity race.
Photo Credit: Claire Swanson
Image 4 Caption: Bringing home awards from the Montana City Middle School XC Meet were:(back) Abygail Osborne, Kathryn Six, Kaylee Flynn (front) Carter Christensen and Jacob Hildreth.
Photo Credit: MT43 News Sports Reporter
