Cameron Haines battles a field of more than 600 athletes during the Mountain West Classic in Missoula.
Sisters eighth-grader Sariah Maughan and seventh-grader Emily Maughan finished in the top five of the Girls Middle School Race. Sariah crossed the finish line 0.8 seconds before Emily.
Junior Lane Mackie-Wendel focuses on his form near the halfway point of the boys junior varsity race on Saturday. The meet drew thousands of runners from across the northwest.
Sophomore Caleb Maughan comes through the mile marker at the Mountain West Classic. Maughan finished 365 in a field of 400 runners from around the Northwest.
Jayla Kauffman passes the two-mile mark during the girl's junior varsity race of the Mountain West Classic.
MISSOULA, MONT. – On a rainy Saturday morning Sept. 30, the Seeley-Swan Blackhawks battled hundreds of runners at the Mountain West Classic cross country meet. The meet is the largest in Montana and drew teams from Montana, Idaho and Washington.
In the varsity boys race, sophomore Caleb Maughan finished the five-kilometer course in 21:04, 365 out of the 400 runners in the race. His brother, senior Logan Maughan, was running with a bone bruise and came across the line a minute later.
"He sort of peglegged it around the course," said Head Coach Zelda Haines about Logan, who also plays football for SSHS. "He's got the qualifying time (for state) but I wish I had him all the time."
The two junior varsity races were the largest of the day, boasting 649 and 459 athletes in the boys and girls races respectively.
In the junior varsity girls race, Jayla Kauffman ran a huge two-minute improvement on her race in Thompson Falls last week.
On the boys' side, Cameron Haines turned in the fastest time of the day, running 20:46 and finishing in the top 250 of the race.
Behind him, Lane Mackie-Wendel finished 598th and Levi Reinitz ran under 27 minutes for the second time.
"[Reinitz's] never done anything like this before," said Haines. "What I get excited about is he improves. He's just legit with it."
The last races of the day were the shortened middle school course. Sisters Sariah and Emily Maughan finished top five and Hannah Ayers was 25 in the field of more than 300. Aydin Bayford finished 48, also competing against an enormous field.
With the air quality around Seeley Lake limiting the team's ability to train early in the season, Haines has high hopes for the rest of the season.
The Blackhawks will next compete at the seven-on-seven meet in Helena on Oct. 5.
Results:
Boys Varsity:
Caleb Maughan: 365, 21:04, 6:48/mile; Logan Maughan: 379, 22:04, 7:07/mile
Boys Junior Varsity
Cameron Haines, 247, 20:46, 6:55; Lane Mackie-Wendel, 598, 25:52, 8:37/mile; Levi Reinitz, 620, 26:59, 9:00/mile
Girls Junior Varsity
Jayla Kauffman, 339, 28:15, 9:07/mile
Middle School Boys
Aydin Bayford, 48, 8:30, 6:04/mile
Middle School Girls
Sariah Maughan, 3, 8:17, 5:55/mile; Emily Maughan, 4, 8:17, 5:55/mile; Hannah Ayers, 25, 8:55, 6:22/mile
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