Cross country: Glacier's Fraley, Bigfork's Morley win in Helena
HELENA — Glacier’s Troy Fraley and Bigfork’s Makena
Morley were the Helena 7-on-7 cross country winners on Thursday at
Bill Roberts Golf Course.
Fraley edged Adam Peterman of Missoula Hellgate by
one second to take top honors in the race pitting the best runners
from each school against each other with a time of 15 minutes, 8
seconds.
“Outstanding (performance), a real strong last half
mile,” Glacier coach Mike McLean said.
“He took the lead past the mile and kind of stretched
it. The other two guys caught him (Peterman and Jakob Woodland of
Bozeman), but he ran a great down hill and ended up getting to the
finish first. He ran a real smart race.”
Woodland finished third, 15:16; Matt Barker of Helena
was fourth, 15:32; and Zach Perrin of Flathead fifth, 15:32.
Morley, like she has all season, blew the field away
in the No. 1 race with a time of 17:05. The freshman finished 35
seconds ahead of runner-up Dani Argon of Billings Senior,
17:40.
The meet consists of seven races total. In addition
to the No. 1 runners from all schools competing against each other,
the same goes for the Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Glacier’s other top finisher was Kade McCutcheon,
12th in the No. 2 flight.
Flathead had three more runners finish in the top
five of their races. Hunter Schutt was fifth in the No. 2; Ben Moon
was second in the No. 3 and Carter Krantz finished third in the No.
7.
Flathead placed third in the team standings with 34
points, behind runner-up Missoula Hellgate, 23, and winner Bozeman,
nine.
“We’re real happy,” Flathead coach Paul Jorgensen
said.
“Our kids ran really well, lots of improvement. We
finally got Zach and Hunter back.”
Perrin had missed the two previous outings with an
ankle injury. Hunter was not available for Flathead’s last
competition.
“He still has that ankle issue,” Jorgensen said of
Perrin.
“Not bad, not bad at all (of his performance
Thursday).”
Glacier’s boys were 15th, 109 points, in the 49-team
field.
The Flathead girls finished 11th with an 89-point
team total, while Glacier tied for 23rd, 24.
Bigfork finished 26th, 170.
Janae Moon had Flathead’s best showing, placing sixth
in the No. 7 race. Baylee Hughes was ninth in the No. 2 race and
Paige Bouma finished 15th in the No. 1.
“They ran very well,” Jorgensen said of his
girls.
“A lot of them had PBs (personal bests).
“A good day,” Jorgensen added.
“Some kids improved by over two minutes.”
The best showing for the Glacier girls was turned in
by Jessica Chery, who finished 31st in the No. 1 race.
“We had six out of seven girls have best times,”
McLean said.
Glacier was also missing two of its better
runners.