Run spirit thrives at Summit Classic

The spirit of running, the pride of Kalispell, the majesty of the Flathead Valley — everything was on display at the 2015 Rocky Mountain Bank Summit Classic 5k and 10k races on Saturday.

Several clouds took their turns promenading in front of the shining sun, regulating the temperature for safe and pristine conditions.

Bill Rodgers, a former Olympian and American marathon recorder holder, joined the field to participate in the sport he helped push into the national spotlight.

Whether it was the anxiousness of sharing the course with a legend, the scenic Montana morning or the results of rigorous training regimen, this year’s Summit Classic brought out the best in every contestant.

Dashing across the finish line first was Kalispell native and Lake Forest Park, Washington, resident Brett Winegar. The 35-year-old former Montana State University Bobcat runner completed the 5k race in 17 minutes and 19.44 seconds — a 5:34 mile pace.

On his tail was 16-year-old Tevyn Stetson. Stetson, who will be a junior at Glacier High School in the fall, finished in 17:34.83 and was grateful for the motivation Winegar’s pace gave him.

“This season I’ve been trying to work on my mental focus, so when I saw (Winegar) I was really able to push myself, turn off my mind and just go,” Stetson said.

“There’s quite a bit of competition. It’s fun to go out and race here.”

Anya Young, of Bigfork, won the overall female 5k title. Finishing in 21:49.88, Young took first-place at just 14 years of age. She out ran Tori Gillespie of Kalispell.

Gillespie, the second place overall female finisher, stopped the clock at 25:23.48. She’s 12.

The youthful display of endurance continued in the 10k race. Robert Hafemeyer, who will be a junior at Flathead High School in the fall, improved upon last year’s third-place finish by taking home the title this time.

Hafemeyer, averaging a 6:22-mile pace, finished in 39:36.79.

“I don’t know ... I wasn’t wearing a watch today,” Hafemeyer said when asked about his pace. “I went to charge my watch last night and my charger was broken. I think it made it easier actually. I put my watch on the pace setting and just look at my pace every now and then, but I think today, on a longer distance, it helped (not having it). Last year I kind of psyched myself out. Coming into the first mile, I was going like five (minutes). I don’t know what it was today.”

The second overall 10k finisher was the female champion and an ex-Montana Grizzly cross-country athlete. Brooke Andrus, a former Bigfork resident now residing in Phoenix, Arizona, crossed the finish line in 39:54.97.

While the top five overall 10k finishers were age 30 or younger, the next three runners to come through the finish line were Sue Hackney, 58, of Montpelier, Vermont, Gary Bjelland, 64, of Great Falls, and Rodgers, 67, running out of Boxborough, Massachusetts.

Bjelland will have the pleasure of claiming he beat a four-time Boston and New York City marathon winner, edging Rodgers by nearly two minutes to win the male 10k 60-69 age group.

Rodgers, who finished in 48:01.76 — a 7:43-mile pace — wasn’t the slightest bit distraught, beaming a smile to the crowd as his gate, still full of bounce and energy, carried him over the finish line through the cheers of the Summit Classic faithful.

“I ran better than I thought I would,” Rodgers said. “I tried to be as competitive as I could. I started off a little bit slow. I think around a mile and a half or two miles, there was an older woman ahead of me. I thought ‘Oh, that’s interesting. I’ll catch her later.’ And then this high school runner runs by me. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s kind of cool. I’ll catch her later, too.’ They both pulled away from me. I couldn’t believe it. They were really moving. They were really fit.”

During his run, Rodgers encountered the passion of running in the Flathead Valley, where numerous clubs and high school programs produce top-tier talent as well as casual lifelong hobbyists, vying to better themselves.

“The spirit of running is unique,” Rodgers said.

“It was a good day. Everyone was out there — older people, kids listening to music. There was one woman pushing a stroller with two kids, and she was moving really well. She went out over the hill and everything. That’s pretty damn good.”

It remains to be seen whether Rodgers — who tours the country, running shorter distance races in communities throughout the U.S. — will return to Kalispell. But the man whose friends, rivals and career impacted generations of runners, growing the sport more than he could have ever imagined, saw just how far it has come — enthralled by the 206 joyous participants who are now his peers.

2015 Rocky Mountain

Bank Summit Classic

Saturday

At Kalispell

10K

Male finishers

Name Age Time

Robert Hafemeyer 16 39:36.8

Tyler Wells 26 43:36.7

Gary Bjelland 64 46:38.0

Bill Rodgers 67 48:01.8

Ted Caudill 40 49:11.2

Jeude Jeff 49 49:45.0

Cole Schneider 32 52:28.3

Dan Lyford 52 52:37.3

Janoka Caudill 14 53:09.8

Eric Vardell 59 53:28.7 Dexter Williams 62 53:59.7

Jackson Manning 13 59:05.2

Val Anderson 50 1:05:23.2 Cole Masa 10 1:10:39.0

Caden Masa 11 1:10:43.3

Female finishers

Brooke Andrus 27 39:54.9

Kaci Monroe 30 43:34.1

Sydney Sharaf 23 46:26.0

Sue Hackney 58 46:32.2

Kelly Hamilton 43 49:48.0

Kimberly Thomas 48 50:34.5

Aimee Chlebnik 31 51:46.0

Jaime Braden 38 52:01.8

Jodi Masa 38 53:37.3

Emily Cossitt 28 53:41.9

Cayla Johnson 28 54:40.7

Kim Oliver 34 56:07.2

Katie Hawes 17 58:05.6

Kendra Hawes 41 58:06.2

Kathie Lapcevic 40 58:40.5

Danielle McFarland 31 59:24.0

Brooke McMahon 36 59:39.1

Jennifer Taylor 51 01:05.2

Rebecca Knapp 35 01:22.0

Lisa Wiley 50 02:11.1

Marcie Kuhl 41 03:19.6

Natalie Newberry 19 06:33.7

Holly Hedley 44 08:06.9

Hillary Hanson 36 08:47.5

Julie Sherrick 60 11:23.4

Beth Robinson 34 12:42.3

Katie Dill 50 39:27.4

5K

Male finishers

Brett Winegar 35 17:19.4

Tevyn Stetson 16 17:33.6

Leif Castren 23 18:34.8

Jacob Calles 16 18:58.0

Anton Young 12 21:04.6

Kyle Calles 14 21:07.2

Parker Barrile 33 21:09.5

Ethan Potthoff 16 21:33.1

Anya Young 14 21:48.4

Carter Hall 18 23:01.7

Hugh Easley 39 23:12.7

Ryan Senn 29 24:21.2

Seth Wyncott 30 24:58.3

Parker Gillespie 14 25:12.7

Matthew Honcoop 25 25:47.5

Ronald Potthoff 49 25:57.6

Joe Kinner 18 26:01.0

Andrew Etter 31 26:10.0

Victor Chiu 16 26:14.4

David Cummings 40 26:22.2

Connor Wride 12 27:15.8

Ross Loeffler 29 27:16.1

Joseph Alexander 26 27:25.7

Austin Eastman 17 27:30.9

Mike Muldown 70 27:36.9

Geoff Calaway 56 27:40.5

Tag Gillespie 8 27:44.0

Tate Harsch-Hudspeth 17 27:48.9

Ian Calaway 12 27:51.5

James Cellum 19 28:02.6

Christopher Miller 36 28:12.8

Glenn DeHekker 54 28:16.6

Brian Krueger 58 28:17.6

Eunice Gillespie 37 28:42.4

Jake Ritzdorf 11 28:55.2

Chandler Gillespie 10 29:06.7

Taylor Steen 18 29:08.5

Arlen Belitsky 15 29:35.5

Stein Hamland 25 29:49.1

Harrison Atlas 16 30:22.5

Curt Anderson 44 30:36.0

Phil Moellring 73 31:15.1

Kyhl Pfankuch 32 31:27.3

Don Edsall 64 31:35.3

Mason Sherrill 12 32:01.8

Willem Lonsdale 18 32:12.3

Oliver Smith 17 32:42.0

Kagan Rutz 37 33:07.4

Martin Miller 55 33:09.5

Freddie Blodnick 24 33:51.0

John Putnam 16 34:06:0

Kale Peters 38 36:04.3

Cameron Longfield 21 36:58.3

Robert Brown 67 37:40.4

Randy Nesges 62 37:43.8

David Sturzen 31 38:00.4

Gene Sampson 45 38:39.0

Marcus Riley 30 39:30.0

Bauer Hollman 9 40:58.1

Jake Rendina 11 41:38.9

Dallas Herron 71 43:38.0

Cannon Wride 6 45:07.1

Cory Juntunen 37 45:28.3

Oliver Volz 15 45:45.6

Pat Walsh 70 46:38.6

James Bigoness 36 48:58:0

Todd Longfield 45 52:08.7

Ray Washtak 65 53:00.1

Cooper Masa 7 53:37.5

Andy Masa 38 53:37.8

Cage Masa 3 53:38.5

Stuart Green 33 53:57.4

Charles Vernon 48 55:10.9

Lee Belitsky 54 57:34.7

Grant Anderson 57 58:29.5

Rich Dolven 61 01:05.6

Don Weakly 47 01:49.8

Bradley Beck 52 02:16.3

George Colonius 83 05:36.9

Female finishers

Anya Young 14 21:48.4

Tori Gillespie 12 25:22.0 Jenny Jarvis 41 25:55.6

Angie Ellson 52 26:34.5

Casey Mangnall 26 26:53.7

Josephine Vardell 13 27:04.9

Mathias Henson 17 27:05.9

Rachel Steindorf 35 28:02.7

Trena Fuller 36 28:08.4

Rebecca Kyle 34 29:32.2

Isabella Camilleri 17 32:11.5

Noelle Gammon 18 32:11.9

Dana Remley 40 32:42.8

Katy Koster 27 33:23.9

Baylee Eisenman 20 33:51.4

Lisa Calaway 50 34:05.2

Heidi Anderson 46 34:06.3

Camille Mason 25 34:06.3

Bailey Wride 10 36:38.6

Afton Wride 9 36:41.7

Mary McClarky 54 36:43.6

Maureen Redfield 73 36:48.4

Regin Koester 13 36:55.7

Alex Schnee 23 36:59.6

Reese Koester 13 37:00.0

Lola Carpenter 3 37:08.4

Amber Carpenter 37 37:11.6

Bobbi Weinheimer 56 37:37.9

Heidi Ruggiero 37 38:40.5

Heidi Rendina 41 38:54.4

Dawn Cummings 40 39:01.0

Rachael Lake 26 39:01.0

Morgan Rintamaki 21 39:35.2

Sandy Jahnke 53 40:13.4

Pam Purcell 60 40:31.5

Michelle Peterson 43 40:33.1

Amanda Guier 46 40:36.3

Elizabeth Manley 28 40:51.6

Katherine Madison 52 41:23.1

Kelley Hill 52 41:43.6

Shawna Sherill 37 42:04.2

Ashley Peters 28 42:08.9

Emily Wacaser 34 42:26.9

Ashley Stuart 33 42:28.9

Lisa Haataja 39 44:29.5

Kristine Wride 40 45:10.6

Maddie Gaines 17 46:02.2

Linda Fredenberg 59 46:39.5

Megan Kumpula 25 47:58.9

Stacy Denning 53 48:45.2

Cathy Greenshields 66 49:32.9

Gelene Berkram 64 49:38.5

Stacy Isch 53 51:34.1

Trish Walsh 65 54:02.8

Beth Showalter 62 54:10.1

Nia Glee 10 54:58.6

Susan Herron 68 55:22.0

Shannon Longfield 41 55:25.8

Kelsey Lyford 22 58:07.2

Kimmerly Lyford 19 58:07.2

Lori Gray 52 58:09.2

Cheryl Bigoness 33 1:00:10.0

Kaija Juntunen 8 1:00:13.2

Ellie Larsen 7 1:00:20.7

Aimee Juntunen 36 1:00:20.8

Jill Lyford 49 1:00:23.7

Diane Dolven 62 1:01:06.1

Penny Glee 66 1:01:11.2

Diane Wiggin 62 1:01:12.8

Marilyn Burns 68 1:01:35.7

Nichole Burns 28 1:01:36.1

Cathy Prime 60 1:02:02.5

JoAnna Lyon 59 1:02:11.0

Kellie Beck 50 1:02:15.2

Nancy Dueker 69 1:02:45.7

Sydney Paine 27 1:02:48.0

Judy Breland 53 1:02:48.2

Kathy Young 62 1:04:04.8

Connie Colonius 82 1:05:38.9

Lila Stahlberg 71 1:17:06.2

Vicki Gaines 54 1:19:34.0

Susan McAnally 57 1:19:34.2

Brandy Mcmunn 38 1:22:26.4