Delaney wins A girls title; Wildkats 2nd as team

MISSOULA — Morgan Delaney had the speed and Columbia Falls had the depth.

Delaney, Polson’s super sophomore, won the girls race for Class A at the Montana State Cross Country Championships Saturday at the UM Golf Course. She led a 1-through-6 that was all underclassmen; her time of 18 minutes, 35.1 seconds put a lot of space between her and sophomore Zoey Read Bird of Hardin (18:48.1).  

Libby freshman Capri Farmer was fourth, ahead of two-time State A champion Karis Brightwings-Pease of Hardin and Glendive freshman Hannah McCormick. 

Hardin’s Bulldogs, with four All-State runners, were a dominant three-time champion, scoring 41 points. In second was Columbia Falls at 117, despite no top-15 finisher. Mya Badger was 17th, at 20:19.3. 

“She just missed All-State,” Columbia Falls Jim Peacock said. “Ran in a great position and was attached the whole way, but just couldn’t reel that podium spot in. 

“Then we had six girls right behind.” 

Well in front was Delaney, who was 10th at State as a freshman while fighting sickness. 

“I was super-super anemic and so I was sick the whole season,” she said. “I was kind of slower than my eighth-grade year.” 

By spring she was strong enough to take fourth in the State A track meet in the 3,200. Then came this season: When she wasn’t racing AA kids, she was finishing first. That included Saturday. 

“I knew I had a good chance at it,” Delaney said. “At the one mile I was in third or fourth. At the two-mile, I had just passed Karis and was in first. I tried to get the lead on the downhill but on the hill I tried to slow it down to save energy. So Zoey caught up to me a little bit. 

“The last mile I just tried to keep my distance from her. I looked back a couple times.” 

Teammate Kimora Scott, a freshman, was 13th to make All-State. But the Pirates finished 10th as a team. 

The Columbia Falls boys, led by River Blazejewski in 11th, took fourth in the team standings. Hardin completed a sweep, edging Corvallis 79-81. Defending champion Browning was third at 125, followed by Columbia Falls (145) and Ronan (179). 

“The boys ran as hard as they could run, and that’s what it’s about,” Peacock said. “It’s about effort. You’ve got to hand it to Browning. They were a handful. But the boys ran as good as they can, and I’m thrilled with them.” 

Browning’s top runner was junior River Racine, who was eighth in 16:47.2. Livingston junior Finn Schretenthaler won in 15:33.1; Corvallis senior Jack Davidson was a distant second at 15:54.6.  

Polson’s’s David DiGiallonardo, Libby’s Cody Watson and Whitefish senior Simon Dougwas went 4-5-6; Ronan’s Jacob Piapot claimed the final All-State Spot.  

Which brings us back to the Wildkats, who saw Badger, Chloe Savoy, Cora Hannan, Ashley Andrews and Marissa Schaeffer finish 17-20-22-26-32. 

“If you go back and work through the state records and see who places — it's really rare to earn any hardware without having an All-State runner,” Peacock said. “It’s next to impossible. 

“That’s a cross country team. That is a tight, strong group of girls.” 

Complete results can be found at mhsa.org.