Perrin, Bravettes cruise to crosstown win

Spring of 2020 was a lost season for Hannah Perrin and the rest of the Flathead track team thanks to the pandemic, and that was tough enough.

Then came cross country last fall, and Lost Season No. 2 for Perrin.

Now she’s back, having cruised to a win in the 1,600 at the crosstown track and field dual at Glacier High School Friday. Her time of 5:14.83 is her fastest yet, and she aims to get faster in the final three weeks of her final high school season.

Which is to say, this is a long way from last October.

“I had a pretty horrible cross country season, if we’re being honest,” said Perrin, whose team won the crosstown title 104.5-40.5 over the Wolfpack. “I found out I had pretty low iron, so that was a big contributing factor.”

It was an oddity: Every other week, the last sibling in one of the more celebrated running families in the state ran slower than the week before. She didn’t compete at the state meet, held at Rebecca Farm.

Flathead finished fourth and Perrin regrouped.

“I started getting really serious about my training,” she said Friday. “I thought if I wanted to go to college I would have to attack it. I started having more fun with it too; enjoying it more.

“The biggest shift over the winter was confidence-wise. Going into a race trying to win it instead of going in instead of trying to finish.”

Running 45 miles a week set Perrin up for a final stretch to rival that of her brothers Zach, Jake and Ben, all champion runners at Flathead.

Two years ago Hannah Perrin lowered her personal record by eight seconds in the 1,600, but finished 10th at state. Meanwhile Ben was completing a 1,600-3,200 sweep.

Her Friday time keeps her fourth in Class AA in the 1,600. She’s sixth in the 3,200.

“Not really where I want to be at the end of the season, but it’s good for now,” she said. “I’m pretty happy with where I am right now. I definitely have big goals for the end of the season.”

Meanwhile, the college dream has been realized: The previous Friday Perrin signed with Montana State, where brother Ben currently competes.

“She deserves everything she’s earned,” Flathead girls’ coach Charlie Dotson said. “She’s worked her tail off and done everything to get that extra edge. I’m interested to see what she does at the next level, because she’s only going to get better.”

“Hannah put a ton of miles in, in the off-season,” Flathead distance coach Jesse Rumsey added. “And track is her forte. She’s just super motivated. She wasn’t very happy with her cross country season and just decided to make it happen.

“She had a rough season, and it was really hard for her and the team because we all know what she’s capable of. It’s great to see her racing so well right now, and doing it on her own. I’m just so happy for Hannah to have this success.”

Flathead has two more duals left — at Missoula Big Sky Tuesday and at Whitefish Thursday -- ahead of the Western AA Divisional in Butte May 21-22. The State AA meet is Memorial Day weekend in Missoula.

Deep, talented fields of distance runners await.

“We have a lot of duals so it’s been hard to have a lot of competition, and have people to push you,” said Perrin, who finished almost 7 seconds ahead of freshman teammate Lilli Rumsey-Eash on Friday. “I’m excited for those, definitely, divisionals and State.”

Flathead won every timed girls’ event Friday save the 300 hurdles, where Glacier’s Sidney Gulick clipped the final hurdle in the 300s and fell across the finish line — .01 ahead of Flathead’s Skye Thompson. Thompson won the 100 hurdles.

Kelcey Copping swept the 100 and 200 for the Bravettes.

Glacier made hay in the field: Cameron Gilmon PR’d while winning the shot put with a mark of 36 feet, 6.5 inches; Taylor Brisendine did the same while winning both the long jump (17-2.75) and triple jump (36-9, second in AA).

Flathead’s Rebecca Eacker had her best throw while winning the discus, at 118-5. That mark leads AA.

“We had two more girls qualify for state and we’re peaking at the right time,” Dotson said of his Bravettes. “We’re gaining confidence. I can’t wait to see what happens these next three weeks.”

Glacier won the boys’ dual 77-68 with Jeff Lillard winning the 200 and 400 and Caleb Bernhardt sweeping the hurdles.

Lillard, a sophomore, now has the fourth-fastest 400 time in AA at 51.86. He edged Flathead’s Nate Prieto, who won the 100, by .07 in the 200.

Bernhardt’s time in the 300 hurdles, 41.39, was .10 off his season-best.

“Not bad, though,” said the junior. “Qualifying mark for state is 41.5, so I would have qualified.”

Glacier coach Arron Deck has seen Bernhardt lower his time in the 300s from 44.4 as a freshman.

“When he was a freshman he just jumped in and he acted like he was one of the boys who’d been around Glacier for a couple of years,” Deck said. “He was pretty confident and willing to work. That’s a good combination in track and field.

"He’s pretty smooth and has looked clean all year. It’s just a matter now of being right now where we’re almost in shape. The next couple weeks we obviously want him to be his fastest, so it’s looking pretty good.”

Flathead’s boys had impressive wins from Gabe Felton in the 1,600, Nic Gustafson in the long jump and Dylan Zink in the triple jump.

Zink’s mark of 42-4 sits No. 2 in Class AA.

GIRLS

Flathead 104.5, Glacier 40.5

100 — 1, Kelcey Copping, Flathead, 13.20; 2, Rylee Barnes, Flathead, 13.43; 3, Akilah Kubi, Flathead, 13.47.

200 — 1, Kelcey Copping, Flathead, 28.33; 2, Lily Tanko, Flathead, 28.59; 3, Noah Fincher, 28.69.

400 — 1, Cerise Lee, Flathead, 61.50; 2, Tori Noland-Gillespie, Flathead, 62.14; 3, Peyton Walker, Flathead, 64.68.

800 — 1, Neila Lyngholm, Flathead, 2:32.48; 2, Nora Iams, Flathead, 2:37.69; 3, Hannah Deck, Glacier, 2:40.88.

1600 — 1, Hannah Perrin, Flathead, 5:14.83; 2, Lilli Rumsey Eash, Flathead, 5:21.72; 3, Isabella lane, Glacier, 5:46.30.

3200 — 1, Madelaine Jellison, Flathead, 12:21.93; 2, Mikenna Conan, Flathead, 12:55.22; 3, Isabella Lane, Glacier, 12:59.45.

100 hurdles — 1, Skye Thompson, Flathead, 16.71; 2, Taylor Brisendine, Glacier, 17.11; 3, Sidney Gulick, Glacier, 17.35.

300 hurdles — 1, Sidney Gulick, Glacier, 48.66; 2, Skye Thompson , Flathead, 48.67; 3, Lily Tanko, Flathead, 51.32.

400 relay — 1, Flathead 51.00 (Rylee Barnes, Kelcey Copping, Skye Thompson, Akilah Kubi); 2, Flathead 52.57.

1600 relay — 1, Flathead (Cerise Lee, Hannah Perrin, Peyton Walker, Tori Noland-Gillespie) 4:18.14; 2, Glacier 4:24.81.

Discus — 1, Rebecca Eacker, Flathead, 118-5; 2, Maddy Moy, Flathead, 100-5; 3, Cyan Mooney, Flathead, 99-2.

Javelin — 1, Taliana Miller, Flathead, 119-10; 2, Kenzie Williams, Glacier, 106-9; 3, Atlanta Waltman, Flathead, 105-6.

Shot put — 1, Cameron Gilman, Glacier, 36-6.5; 2, Emma Ritter, Glacier, 35-5.5; 3, Rebecca Eacker, Flathead, 35-2.

High jump — 1, Bethany Sorenson, Glacier, 4-11; 2, Tessa Smith, Flathead, 4-9; 3, Peyton Walker, Flathead, 4-7.

Long jump — 1, Taylor Brisendine, Glacier, 17-2.75; 2, Akilah Kubi, Flathead, 16-7; 3, Tessa Smith, Flathead, 15-9.5.

Triple jump — 1, Taylor Brisendine, Glacier, 36-9; 2, Tessa Sm ith, Flathead, 33-7; 3, Reagan Brisendine, Glacier, 33-3.5.

Pole vault — 1, Hania Halverson, Flathead, 9-0; 2, Teagan Halloran, Flathead, 8-0; 3 (tie), Rhiannon Dalton, Glacier, and Taylor Pooton, Flathead, 7-3.

BOYS

Glacier 77, Flathead 68

100 — 1, Nate Prieto, Flathead, 11.61; 2, Kash Goicoechea, Glacier, 11.68; 3, Connor Sullivan, Glacier, 11.71.

200 — 1, Jeff Lillard, Glacier, 23.84; 2, Nate Prieto, Flathead, 23.91; 3, Jake Tuner, Glacier, 24.12.

400 — 1, Jeff Lillard, Glacier, 51.86; 2, Grant Gauthier, Flathead, 52.76; 3, Xavier Stout, Glacier, 53.66.

800 — 1, Sam Ells, Glacier, 2:02.52; 2, Tyler Avery, Glacier, 2:05.34; 3, Henry Smith, Glacier, 2:14.38.

1600 — 1, Gabe Felton, Flathead, 4:48.83; 2, Kesler Hughs, Flathead, 4:57.39; 3, Ethan Strand, 4:57.86.

3200 — 1, Peter Wilson, Flathead, 11:36.01; 2, Eli Mildren, Glacier, 11:40.75; 3, Mitchell Johnson, Flathead, 12:52.82.

110 hurdles — 1, Caleb Bernhardt, Glacier, 16.08; 2, Stephan Crowder, Glacier, 17.72; 3, Evan Barnes, Glacier, 18.12.

300 hurdles — 1, Caleb Bernhardt, Glacier, 41.39; 2, Kole Johnson, Glacier, 44.38; 3, Stephen Crowder, Glacier, 46.04.

400 relay — 1, Glacier (Jake Turner, Connor Sullivan, Kole Johnson, Kash Goicoechea), 43.80; 2, Flathead 44.36.

1600 relay — 1, Glacier (Jake Turner, Jeff Lilliard, Connor Sullivan, Xavier Stout) 3:34.20; 2, Flathead 3:38.96.

Discus — 1, Timber Richberg, Flathead, 114-9; 2, Brandon Manley, Flathead, 111-9; 3, Aiden Krause, Glacier, 111-4.

Javelin — 1, Erik Junk, Glacier, 159-9; 2, Ethan Aegerter, Flathead 127-9; 3, Dylan Baker, Flathead, 124-3.

Shot put — 1, Ethan Aegerter, Flathead, 42-8.5; 2, Alec Thomas, Flathead, 41-3; 3, Henry Sellards, Glacier, 40-3.

High jump — 1, Jacob Dolezal, Flathead, 5-8; 2, Dylan Zink, Flathead, 5-8; 3 (tie), Tate Kauffman, Glacier, and Xavier Stout, Glacier, 5-6.

Long jump — 1, Nicolas Gustafson, Flathead, 19-9.5; 2, Jake Turner, Glacier, 199; 3, Jeff Lillard, Glacier, 19-7.75.

Triple jump — 1, Dylan Zink, Flathead, 42-4; 2, Tate Kauffman, Glacier, 40-8.5; 3, Kale Mayhue, Glacier, 40-4.5.

Pole vault — 1, Timothy Weymouth, Flathead, 13-0; 2, Joe Limberis, Glacier, 120; 3, Jackson Barney, Glacier, 11-6.