Briefs: Glacier High wins Academic Excellence Award

by Daily Inter Lake
| August 29, 2024 12:00 AM

The Montana High School Association has named the 2023-2024 winners of its NorthWestern Energy Academic Excellence Awards, and Glacier High School earned the honor for Class AA.

One academic champion was crowned in each of the four athletic classifications: AA, A, B and C. Glacier, Billings Central, Florence-Carlton and Whitewater High Schools were named champions.

The program was initiated in the school year 1988-89. Winners are determined by averaging the grades earned by students who took part in athletic, music and/or speech/drama programs offered by that school:

School GPA Participants Enrollment

Class AA

Glacier 3.543 378 1400

Helena 3.487 252 980

Class A

Billings Central 3.590 226 334

Dillon 3.523 187 325

Class B

Florence 3.629 138 250

Boulder 3.611 135 296

Class C

Whitewater 3.840 11 13

Turner 3.760 17 22

Bobcat men No. 25 in cross country poll

BOZEMAN — Montana State men’s cross country will enter the 2024 season ranked 25th in the preseason edition of the USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Poll, released on Tuesday.

The selection marks the third straight season the Bobcats have earned a preseason national ranking.

Montana State finished 13th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships last November in Charlottesville, Virginia, their best result since finishing 11th in 2002.

MSU has ascended to national prominence under head coach Lyle Weese, finishing 26th at the NCAA Championships in 2022 before their 13th place result last year. The back-to-back appearances at the national meet is a first in program history.

The Bobcats had three finish in the top-75 individually in Virginia: Matthew Richtman (26th), Flathead High product Ben Perrin (53rd) and Owen Smith (72nd).

Weese returns eight of his top nine runners from a season ago, including Perrin, Smith, and 2023 Big Sky Freshman of the Year Sam Ells out of Glacier High.