Fraley's finest hour

Troy Fraley’s confidence level was already up a notch or two thanks to a rigorous training session he embarked on over the summer.

Saturday afternoon, it received an added boost.

The Glacier senior took the lead after the first mile, then held off a determined effort by Missoula Hellgate’s Adam Peterman to win the Flathead Invitational cross country race at a sun-drenched Kidsports Complex.

Not only was this the first time Fraley triumphed at his hometown event, but he also shattered the course record in the process with a sizzling time of 15 minutes, 10.26 seconds on a near perfect day for running.

Peterman was clocked in a close 15:10.51.

Fraley’s time bettered the old standard of 15:35 set last year by Flathead’s Zach Perrin.

“It’s gonna boost it,” Fraley said afterwards of what this victory means for his running ego.

“It’s gonna make me work even harder.”

On the girls side, Bigfork sophomore Makena Morley flirted with the course record, coasting to a winning time of 17:47.87. Zoe Nelson of Flathead owns that mark — 17:40 — set in 2004.

Morley won this race last year in 18:02.

Perrin, who led for the first mile with Fraley and Peterman right on his heels, was a disappointing third, 15:43.7.

“I don’t know,” Perrin said of what happened. “It’s just annoying ... frustrating to lose.

“I’m not going to make excuses,” he quickly added.

“It was just an off day. I will just use this as motivation for the rest of the season.”

Perrin had won this race the last three years.

Perrin, Fraley and Peterman were the only runners to break 16 minutes.

“It helped both our times,” Fraley said of having Peterman off his shoulder the whole race.

“We were pushing each other. Adam is a great competitor ... a great friend.”

Fraley finished second last year at this race with a time of 15:50.

“This year I had a great summer of running,” he said.

“That gave me the confidence to run like I thought I could win it. I’m in much better shape than I have ever been.”

Morley led her race from start to finish and was never seriously challenged, although Paige Gilchrist of Missoula Hellgate was within a reasonable distance.

Gilchrist finished in 18:08.31.

“I wouldn’t have run that fast without her,” Morley said.

“I knew she was back there.”

Morley said her big goal coming into this race was breaking 18 minutes.

Last year her margin of victory was 52 seconds.

“I didn’t really think about it during the race,” she said of a hip flexor injury she has been battling this fall.

“It didn’t bother me at all.”

Morley said she took four days off two weeks ago from training and followed that by going 50 percent in practice.

“This week, I started going like 80 to 90 percent.”

She said the days off may have helped.

“I think it helped my muscles,” he said.

“They need a rest.

“Lets have fun and run as fast as I can,” she said of her race approach.

“I didn’t have a strategy ... just get under 18 (minutes).”

On the team front, Missoula Hellgate won both titles.

The Flathead boys were second and Glacier third.

The Flathead girls placed fourth and Glacier was sixth.

NOTE: It was reported in Friday’s Flathead Invitational preview story that the course record for girls was 17:58 by Zoe Nelson of Flathead, set in 2004. The Inter Lake was given incorrect information.

Flathead Invitational

Saturday At Kidsports Complex

Girls

Team Totals

Missoula Hellgate 32, Hamilton 52, Missoula Sentinel 66, Flathead 104, Belt 131, Glacier 155, Browning 191, Cut Bank 202

Individual Results

1, Makena Morley, Bigfork, 17:47.87. 2, Paige Gilchrist, Hellgate, 18:08.31. 3,

Scarlet Kaplan, Hellgate, 19:36.33. 4, Ellen Ipsen, Hellgate, 19:48.92. 5, Haley Rogers, Sentinel, 20:06.07. 6, Ellen Brooks, Sentinel, 20:20.38. 7, Courtney Juneau-LittleDog, Browning, 20:34.53. 8, Addie Melvin, Hellgate, 20:41.36. 9, Maggie Mitzel, Loyola, 20:54.21. 10, Taylor Gogo, Hamilton, 21:07.33. 11, Kaitlin Stromberg, Hamilton, 21:07.93. 12, Sara Amish, Belt, 21:26.75. 15, Chelsea Olson, Bigfork, 21:31.51. 16, Morgan Thomas, Sentinel, 21:32.90. 17, Sarah DelRae, Hamilton, 21:35.93. 18, Natalie Jeude, Flathead, 21:42.95. 19, Mackenzie Bouma, Flathead, 21:47.07.

20, Adrionah Wilcox, Flathead, 21:49.72. 21, Reanna Richards, Sentinel, 21:51.49. 22, Annika Sohlberg, Hellgate, 21:55.95. 23, Tess G.Clancy, Hamilton, 21:58.58. 24, Johanna Lembke, Flathead, 21:59.33. 25, McKenzie Lencioni, Belt, 22:01.71. 26, Amanda Woods, Hot Springs, 22:02.30. 27, Lea Gondeiro, Belt, 22:08.65. 28, Jessica Chery, Glacier, 22:12.83. 29, Mackenzie Keiper, Hellgate, 22:14.62. 30, Alex Williams, Sentinel, 22:26.02. 31, Samantha Sayer, Hellgate, 22:38.70. 32, Kali Hayes, Hamilton, 22:39.93. 33, Katie Whyte, Glacier, 22:43.89. 34, Anne Price, Sentinel, 22:51.97. 35, Rylee Doore, Cut Bank, 22:55.35. 36, Katie McHugh, Glacier, 23:02.81. 37, Lauren Winder, Belt, 23:06.89. 38, Corinne Hamilton, Glacier, 23:09.22. 39, Heather Bodenhamer, Flathead, 23:14.25.

40, Keckeley Habel, Glacier, 23:23.29. 41, Olivia Carette, Cut Bank, 23:24.37. 42, Madi Seaman, Flathead, 23:24.96. 43, Meghan Clostio, Flathead, 23:39.76. 44, Miranda Meyer, Glacier, 23:43.99. 45, Meaghan Winder, Belt, 23:45.75. 46, Shyanne Racine, Cut Bank, 24:07.01. 47, Angelina OldPerson, Browning, 24:24.93. 48, Shelbi Fitzpatrick, Cut Bank, 24:42.96. 49, Amanda Bearmedicine, Sentinel, 25:18.34.

50, Shania Hoyt, Browning, 25:37.04. 51, Tiah Lorenzo, Browning, 26:34.00. 52, Whitney Fultz, Cut Bank, 26:42.66. 53, Brylee Weatherwax, Browning, 27:14.94. 54, Allie Cantrell, Belt, 28:25.14. 55, Ashley Burd, Browning , 31:10.21. 56, Ciara Heavilin, Cut Bank, 35:39.18.

Boys

Team Totals

Missoula Hellgate 33, Flathead 62, Glacier 75, Missoula Sentinel 75, Hamilton 97, Browning 170, Cut Bank 205

Individual Results

1, Troy Fraley, Glacier, 15:10.26. 2, Adam Peterman, Hellgate, 15:10.51. 3, Zach Perrin, Flathead, 15:43.73. 4, Chris Herrick, Hellgate, 16:27.60. 5, Hunter Guthrie, Sentinel, 16:38.27. 6, Drew Gottman, Hellgate, 16:41.51. 7, Ben Moon, Flathead, 16:42.50. 8, Nick Hamilton, Sentinel, 16:43.98. 9, Tazio Scariano, Hellgate, 16:49.29. 10, Anthony Schmalz, Anthony, Hamilton, 16:54.01. 11, Easton Albert, Hamilton, 17:00.74. 12, John Szekley, Hellgate, 17:04.00. 13, Ruben Castren, Glacier, 17:06.46. 14, Jordan Engel, Flathead, 17:10.52. 15, Nathan Connell, Glacier, 17:24.30. 16, Marcus BearMedicine, Sentinel, 17:24.92. 17, Reed Bachman, Hellgate, 17:27.96. 18, Matt Macfarlane, Flathead, 17:31.01. 19, Brandon Minster, Sentinel, 17:31.85.

20, Kyle Kosinski, Flathead, 17:40.23. 21, Moah Hill, Glacier, 17:44.39. 22, Wyatt MadPlume, Browning, 17:45.84. 23, Karill Apedaile, Hamilton, 17:49.21. 24, Greg Beck, Hamilton, 17:51.05. 25, Logan Morley, Bigfork, 17:51.55. 26, Tanner Olsen, Glacier, 17:56.44. 27, Sylas Schutt, Flathead, 17:59.87. 28, Quinn Staats, Sentinel, 18:10.76. 29, Carson Cantrell, Bigfork, 18:11.62. 30, Keenan Wills, Flathead, 18:15.77. 31, Cameron Meikle, Hamilton, 18:16.11. 32, Emmett DustyBull, Browning, 18:32.96. 33, Tristen Hollist, Sentinel, 18:33.72. 34, Logan Harmon, Glacier, 18:42.28. 35, Max Tree, Sentinel, 18:48.10. 36, Sam Parker, Hamilton, 18:51.69. 37, Jared Berkram, Cut Bank, 18:52.90. 38, Caydon Keller, Shelby, 18:58.35. 39, Brandon Trombley, Browning, 19:04.49.

40, Austyn Mercer, Cut Bank, 19:10.20. 41, Taylor Treece, Glacier, 19:14.18. 42, Kyle Skunkcap, Browning, 19:25.55. 43, Craig Lerch, Hellgate, 19:29.45. 44, Kole Tison, Hamilton, 19:36.22. 45, Logan Meeks, Cut Bank, 19:45.17. 46, Luke Henke, Shelby, 20:00.83. 47, Joshua Sanderville, Browning, 20:07.57. 48, Kyle Heptner, Kyle, Shelby, 20:10.27. 49, Gregory Hall, Browning, 20:13.19. 50, Dayln Morgan, Cut Bank, 20:27.99. 51, Travis Vermulm, Cut Bank, 20:34.90. 52, Clarence McNabb, Browning, 20:41.69. 53, Tanner Rigor, Belt, 20:52.31. 54, Josh Biegler, Cut Bank, 21:16.68. 55, Logan Vining, Belt, 21:24.10. 56, Jack McKinney, Belt, 22:09.50. 57, Jimmy Smith, Belt, 22:09.81. 58, Kylan Allison, Cut Bank, 23:46.75.