State cross country: Bigfork's Morley going for 3 in a row
The last time Bigfork’s Makena Morley ran at the university golf course in Missoula, she broke the course record by nearly 17 seconds. For an encore, she’ll be running for her third individual Class B state championship at today’s state cross country meet.
Morley is one of a handful of competitors from the area that will be vying for hardware, including her younger brother.
Bigfork sophomore Logan Morley has been one of the fastest boys in Class B all season along with Plains’ Russell Kujala. Though, Logan is not quite the favorite Makena is, who has run more than 2 minutes faster than any girl in Class B.
The Red Lodge boys and Glasgow girls enter the meet as the favorites to win the Class B team titles. Each won the title last year, the Glasgow girls having won the last three and five of the last six.
The Whitefish boys, also seeking to repeat as state champions, are riding high off last week’s dominant performance at the Northwestern A divisional.
They’re the prohibitive favorites in Class A, along with the Corvallis girls, though the field of teams that could knock them off is deep. Hamilton, Laurel and Hardin also have talented teams and will give the Bulldogs a run for the title.
“If (the Whitefish boys) run like they’ve been running, they’ll do well,” Whitefish coach Sara Brist said.
“There’s a lot of tough teams ... Hamilton was the favorite last year. I’m sure they’ll be looking to take it back. There’s no pressure on us. We’re just going there to run and we’ll see how it works out. If we’re in top three that’s great.”
The Bulldogs’ Keaton Grove, Caleb Knox and E.J. Havens have all had times among the best in the state this season as has Sarah Latcham on the girls side. Columbia Falls’ Samantha Mundel and Polson’s Claudia Hewston have also been near the top of time sheets all season.
“There’s probably four or five teams with a chance to take the top three spots, we’re probably one.” Brist said. “If they run like they have been we’ll be good. It’ll come down to who has best day again.”
The Glacier boys, who won the Mountain West Classic, enter as one of the favorites to win the team title on their quest for their first cross country state title. Led by junior Kade McCutcheon, the Wolfpack has one of the fastest teams in the state with five runners in the state’s top 20 times. Flathead is led by Sylas Schutt and Chance Kittle, each with a chance to finish all-state.
Glacier will be challenged by Bozeman, which has won five straight state championships on the boys side and six straight on the girls side. The Bozeman girls are also favored at the state meet.
Glacier freshman Bailey Smith has led the Wolfpack girls all season, and will be in the running for a shot at a top 15 finish along with Flathead’s Nicole and Mackenzie Bouma.
“One of our goals is have both teams to finish in the top seven or eight but of course a top three finish would great,” Flathead coach Paul Jorgenson said. “To place in the top three, our kids will have to have their best day.”
Because of expected frost in the morning, start times for each of the races have been pushed back an hour. The Class AA boys open the festivities at noon at the University of Montana golf course in Missoula.