Makena Morley 3rd, Hill 8th at Foot Locker
SAN DIEGO — Makena Morley had her best showing ever at the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championship on Saturday morning at Morley Field in Balboa Park.
The Bigfork senior finished third in a field of 40 elite high school runners with a time of 17 minutes, 29 seconds for the 5k (3.1 mile) race.
That was a huge improvement over last year when she placed eighth in 17:43.
Anna Rohrer of Mishawaka, Indiana, had a winning time of 17:13. Rohrer also won nationals in 2012. Ryen Frazier of Raleigh, North Carolina, was second, 17:23.
This marked the 36th edition of the race. The top 10 finishers from the four regionals — Northeast, Midwest, South and West — qualified for this race.
Flathead Valley was well represented at the championship with Kalispell’s Annie Hill, a freshman at Glacier High School, finishing eighth in 17:52.
Bryn Morley, a Bigfork freshman, was 26th, 18:33.
Hill and Bryn Morley were competing at the championship for the first time.
Nine runners broke the 18-minute barrier.
“I’m happy with some parts (of the race) disappointed with others,” Hill said in a phone interview.
“I was disappointed in my finish a little bit. I got passed by a few girls with less than a 100 meters (to go).”
Hill said Morley Field was an easier course than the one she competed on at regionals.
“I wanted to start in the middle of the group, top 20, for the first mile,” she said.
“Not go out too fast. Then start picking people off in the last two (miles).”
Her time for the first mile was 5:25.
“At the end I was really tired,” she said.
“The last hill was really hard.”
Makena Morley, who will compete with the University of Montana cross country team next year, placed 24th (18:12) at nationals as a sophomore and was ninth (17:40) as a freshman.
“Makena wanted to win, but her other goal was to lay it all out there until she had nothing left to give,” UM cross country and distance coach Collin Fehr, Morley’s primary recruiter and future coach, said in a press release. “She went for it and had a great race. We’re definitely proud.”
Rohrer and Frazier eventually joined Morley, who set a fast pace, at the front during the early stages of the second mile. At the start of the third mile, Rohrer and Frazier pulled slightly ahead of Morley. Rohrer ultimately slipped away from Frazier to cross the finish line with a 10-second margin of victory.
“Makena races best when she gets out early and feels in control, when she gets out and pushes the issue,” said Fehr. “When she doesn’t do that, she tends to get complacent and lets other runners get away from her.
“It was good for Makena to be in that situation. Obviously she wants to win those types of races, so she needs to experience them and learn what it’s going to take to get there. She got a taste of that today,” added Fehr.
“It’s a big compliment to her fortitude. It’s easy to say you want to win, but when it’s clear you’re not going to, it can be easy to kind of let it go and drop way back. But she didn’t. She stayed in it and kept giving it everything she had.”
Grant Fisher defended his boys title, posting a winning time of 15:03. He is a senior from Grand Blanc, Mich.