Blackhawks take first and second at Linda Vista

MISSOULA – At the final meet before state, the Seeley-Swan High School Cross County finally had their entire team of eight together. On the Linda Vista Golf Course in Missoula Oct. 10, most of the athletes set new personal records. As a team, the girls varsity placed first and the boys varsity came in second for Class C. In the middle school race all of the athletes posted a new PR and Emily Maughan placed first, 48 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor

Varsity Boys – 3.2 miles

The boys welcomed back senior Logan Robinson after four weeks of physical therapy. They all looked forward to the course that had no long hills.

Sophomore Caleb Maughan ran the best time on the team. He set a new personal record (PR) of 19:44.09 running under a 20 minute mile for the first time this year. I was pleased with his consistent mile splits: 6.12 first mile, 6.27 second mile and 6:26 third mile. The extra two tenths of a mile took him 35 seconds.

Senior Cordell Turner ran a PR as well, 21:40.16 beating Robinson by 0.69 seconds. Running close together for most of the race, Turner pulled Robinson along for a 21:40.85 finish, just eighth seconds off his earlier PR. Their pace times were similar: Cordell in 6.29 first mile, 7:29 second mile and 7:03 third mile running the two-tenths in 36 seconds. Robinson ran a 6:30 first mile, 7.29 second mile and 7:03 third mile adding 38 seconds for the two-tenths.

Freshman Chase Haines ran a 48 second PR running close to Turner and Robinson the first lap. He finished in 22:25.35. I was happy with his first mile in 6:50 but he let up his second 7:29 and picked it up for the third for a 7:03 mile split. He ran the two-tenths in 40 seconds.

Junior Levi Reinitz added another PR for the season finishing in 23:46.01. He ran his fastest first mile finishing in 7:10. His finished his second mile in 7:59 and third in 7:54 adding 43 seconds for the two-tenths at the end.

Darby finished first with 123 points followed by the Blackhawks with 139 points and Two Eagle with 159 points.

All in all the boys team made progress this season despite illness, injuries and chronic knee pain. I'm proud of them and look for them to PR at State.

Varsity Girls – 3.2 miles

The high school girls team of freshmen Sariah Maughan and Hannah Ayers and junior Jayla Kauffman won the Class C portion of the meet beating Darby and Two Eagle River.

Maughan, fighting through stomach cramps, again showed her ability to beat former state champion Gracie Lang by 23 seconds with a time of 20:53.48. She averaged a 6.44/mile pace. Maughan and Ayers led Lang before Lang caught Ayers in the last 800 meters of the race.

Ayers ran 20:53.48 staying right with Maughan in the first mile averaging a 6:54 per mile pace. Although not a PR because of a sore muscle, she ran 43 seconds faster than the 7-on-7 Race the week before.

Kauffman continues to garner PR's each race finishing in 26:44.68 with a 8:51/mile pace. She needs to keep working hard to achieve the 25 minute race.

If the girls team continues to improve, they have a shot at a team trophy at State. Maughan is ranked fifth and Ayers ranked eighth in the state for Class C schools. It depends on what they can pull off at state. Kauffman plays a huge part as well.

The State Meet is Saturday, Oct. 20 at the University Golf Course in Missoula. The Class C girls race at 11 a.m. and the Class C Boys race at 12:10 p.m. after the AA Girls. The team would appreciate any support you can give them so come cheer them on!

Middle School – 2 miles

This was the Middle Schooler's final meet. They were happy it was a two-mile course instead of the 1.4 mile. Sounds crazy, but they are crazy good runners. They only one missing was Kyla Conley who was sick. She was missed on the course and the bus.

Sixth-grader Sam Ayers ran his fastest two mile race finishing in 14:58.09. He edged out Xavier Hanson 14:58.91 in an exciting kick to the line.

As a sixth grader, Ayers shows a lot of promise in distance running. He ran the most consistent splits, 7:27.36 and 7:30.71.

The eighth grade girls had just finished their run outs at the line for warmups when Tru Good discovered she was not wearing her timing number. Running back to camp (100 meters away) she quickly grabbed the number only to hear the gun go off. She ran back to the line only to see everyone 60 meters ahead of her.

That didn't stop her.

Tru sprinted out trying and passing people. Along the way, she lost the number so she didn't get an actual time but we figured she was 50 seconds behind Tia, which would have given her the fastest two mile, and actually a great 2.2 miles which she actually ran. Great sprinting Tru!

Tia ran her fastest ever finishing in 15:33.90. She placed 19th in a field of 77 and had very even splits, 7:48.33 and 7:45.51 with her fastest on the second mile.

Emily Maughan, wearing spikes for the first time, ran behind the three fastest boys. She couldn't quite catch them placing fourth overall and first for the girls with her fastest time, 12:29.91. She outdistanced her nearest competitor Rose Wiltse by 48 seconds. Her 6:15 mile pace would rival most older girls. Maughan understands that if she trained with the team, instead of doing both cross country and volleyball, she could be so much better.

We look forward to these eighth graders joining the high school cross country team. This will give us the numbers we've never had before and a really high quality team.