COLUMBIA FALLS AND WHITEFISH WIN STATE CROSS COUNTRY

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Columbia Falls boys win first cross country crown

By the Missoulian | Posted: Saturday, October 24, 2009 5:55 pm

MISSOULA - The Columbia Falls boys and Whitefish girls won team titles Saturday at the All-Class State Cross Country Championships that were held at the University of Montana Golf Course.

For the Wildcats, Saturday's dominating win - they put four runners in the top 11 - was their first championship in the sport.

Columbia Falls scored 64 points to beat out the Browning Indians, one of the state's toughest Class A programs, which scored 97 points.

For the Bulldogs, they earned their third straight girls' title with a 59-74 win over Glendive.

Lewistown's Brook Rodgers won her second individual crown in a row with a time of 18:59.07 in the girls' race. Frenchtown's Emily Schall was the top western Montana finisher. She took fourth.

Belgrade's Joey Vaughn won the boys' title in 16:05.88.Corvallis' Chris Jessop was runner-up.

In Class AA, the Bozeman Hawks swept the boys' and girls' titles for a second straight year. The girls' team won it all for a third consecutive fall.

Junior Heidi Turner won a third consecutive individual title to lead the Hawks, who had all five of their runners finish in the top 10 to set a Class AA record with 30 points.

Turner was the only AA girl to break 18 minutes, finishing in 17:59.68.

Billings West and Billings Senior tied for second, but West earned the runner-up trophy by virtue of its sixth-place runner finishing higher than Senior's.

The Bozeman boys scored 56 points to beat Kalispell Flathead (89) and Billings Skyview (118).

Helena High sophomore Matt Barker was the individual winner as he finished in 15:46.

Flathead's Leif Castren was third.

Mike Asay led the Manhattan boys to a State B championship. The senior, who placed second a year ago, won the individual championship in a landslide by breaking the tape in 15:23.44. His nearest competitor, Jager Warner from Townsend, finished 19 seconds behind. Darby senior Seth Garbett took fourth at 16:23.23.

Manhattan scored 88 points, while runner-up Loyola sacred Heart tallied 115.

Townsend frehsman Chiara Warner won the Class B girls' race with a time of 18:23.75, while Colstrip took the team title with 53 points.

Belt-Centerville dominated the Class C girls' event to win its fourth straight state championship. The Huskies placed five runners in the top eight and scored 12 points. Mackenzie O'Dore of Joliet defended her state title, winning 18:43.06.

Culbertson was awarded the boys' Class C title. The Cowboys finished tied for first with Joliet, but in the tiebreaker, Culbertson's fourth finisher placed 18th, while Joliet's was 26th. Gavin Owens from Ennis was the individual medalist with a time of 15:33.77.

BOYS

Class A

Team scores: Columbia Falls 64, Browning 97, Laurel 127, Lewistown 128, Corvallis 154, Frenchtown 172, Hamilton 225, Billings Central 231, Havre 281, Belgrade 287, Glendive 293, Ronan 301, Whitefish 307, Hardin 342, Livingston 352, Dillon 363, Polson 400, Anaconda 419, Libby 537.

Top 25 individuals

1, Joey Vaughn, Bel, 16:05.88; 2, Chris Jessop, Cor, 16:07.86; 3, Tucker White, BiC, 16:13.17; 4, Shawn Whitman, CF, 16:29.04; 5, Derrick Williams, CF, 16:30.77; 6, James Reevis, Brwn, 16:33.82; 7, Patric Jessat, CF, 16:36.89; 8, Derek DesRosier, Brwn, 16:38.55; 9, Brett Widler, Lau, 16:41.02; 10, Kendall Murie, Hav, 16:42.63; 11, Justin Whitman, CF, 16:45.37; 12, Clay Armstrong, Ftn, 16:50.80; 13, Monte Cole, Liv, 16:55.04; 14, Caleb Bentley, Lew, 16:55.72; 15, Nathan Francis, Ftn, 16:57.13. 16, Teran Alears, Lew, 16:59.80; 17, Michael Marstaeller, Lau, 17:00.92; 18, Quinton Tolman, Ftn, 17:04.76; 19, Derek Haskins, Lau, 17:09.69; 20, Thomas Reevis, Brwn, 17:12.48; 21, Tyler Kinn, Gle, 17:13.04; 22, Emerson Connelly, Brwn, 17:14.61; 23, Jerod Noyd, Ana, 17:18.15; 24, Nathan Knox, Wf, 17:20.07; 25, Gage Poss, Lew, 17:20.44.

Class A

Team scores: Whitefish 59, Glendive 74, Lewistown 91, Hamilton 187, Columbia Falls 226, Hardin 226, Dillon 251, Browning 261, Laurel 272, Belgrade 280, Polson 283, Corvallis 295, Miles City 335, Anaconda 354, Havre 361, Sidney 362, Frenchtown 375, Ronan 446, Livingston 511.

Top 25 individuals

1, Brook Rodgers, Lew, 18:59.07; 2, Ralonda Wall, Brwn, 19:07.31; 3, Nocona Frame, Gle, 19:24.71; 4, Emily Schall, Ftn, 19:29.16; 5, Jessica Sagen, Wf, 19:32.27; 6, Bailey Eaton, Wf, 19:38.58; 7, Loni Hanson, Wf, 19:51.58; 8, Taylor Condon, Lau, 19:54.85; 9, Maureen Palmersheim, Ham, 19:56.19; 10, Olivia Wood, Ana, 19:59.66; 11, Kierra Bullock, Lew, 20:00.33; 12, Melissa Lynn, Gle, 20:00.64; 13, Autumn Charges Strong, Har, 20:03.29; 14, Caitlin Taggart, Gle, 20:03.77; 15, Sabrina Temple, Gle, 20:06.54. 16, Mesa Starkey, Pol, 20:11.99; 17, Nikola Falk, Lib, 20:17.73; 18, Hannah Weaver, Wf, 20:19.41; 19, Esperanza Battrick, Lew, 20:21.12; 20, Sarah Del Rae, Ham, 20:21.88; 21, Jinise Osborne, CF, 20:24.15; 22, Brittanee Korb, Hav, 20:24.48; 23, Carly Schwickert, Wf, 20:26.08; 24, Ronnea Gramling, Har, 20:33.45; 25, Regan Casey, Lau, 20:36.82.