Perrin, Morley lead Flathead Valley runners at Nike regional

BOISE, Idaho — Runners from the Flathead Valley and Montana turned in high finishes on Saturday at the Nike Cross Northwest Regional Championships at the Eagle Island Cross Country Course.

In the boys 5k championship race, Ben Perrin of Flathead was seventh overall with a time of 15 minutes, 27.4 seconds.

James Mwaura of Drew’s Crew had the winning time of 15:06.8.

Duncan Hamilton Jr. of Bozeman was second in 15:16.9 and Cooper West of Great Falls CMR was 12th, 15:34.7.

There were 197 runners in that race.

Bryn Morley of Bigfork was 10th in the girls championship race with a time of 17:56.8. The 5k winner was Camila Noe of Bozeman in 17:13.5.

Ten girls finished under 18 minutes.

Tiahna Vladic of Billings was eighth in 17:53.9 while Annie Hill of Glacier was 17th, 18:17.3.

The championship race had 158 entrants.

Flathead’s girls, which took second place in the open division team standings, were led by Kaitlin Wride, who was 13th overall with a time of 19:28.1. She ran sixth in the second of that event’s two heats.

Flathead’s other top two performers were Meaghan Fisher, 31st overall, in 19:59.4 and Tori Noland-Gillespie, 39th, in 20:05.4. They also ran in the second heat.

Flathead’s Sadie Wilson had a time of 20:22.6, which was the good for 46th place in the second heat while Hannah Perrin finished in 20:35.1, which placed her 53rd.

The open 5k winner was Andie Cornish of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She crossed the finish line in 19:02.3.

There were 238 runners in the first heat and 228 in the second.

Flathead had a team score of 119.

The Wolves Cross Country squad was first with 115 total.

Competing at this regional were athletes from seven states — Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.