State Cross Country: Bissen, Thiel finish third in AA

MISSOULA — Glacier’s Owen Thiel and Lauren Bissen each had run the times to win the individual titles at the AA portion of the State Cross Country Championships Saturday.

On a sunny afternoon at the University of Montana Golf Course, a couple runners went faster.

Gallatin’s Claire Rutherford was too much on her side, running the 5,000 meters in 18 minutes, 16.2 seconds for her third straight title. Rutherford led a 1-2 finish with Isabel Ross that sparked the Raptors to the girls team title; Bissen was third at 18:34.9.

On the boys side it was Belgrade’s Wilson Schmidt who surged to victory, after coming in with the seventh-best time. A kid from team champion Bozeman with the last name Neil (Taylor) was next, so no surprise there. But Schmidt — who is that guy?

“He is an All-American, 1-minute-50-second 800 runner,” explained Thiel, who like Bissen took third. “With an absolutely nasty kick.”

Thiel finished in 15:45.5, part of a tight top four: Schmidt’s time was 15:38.4; Bozeman’s Neil was second at 15:42.5; and Helena’s Milo Kauffman was fourth at 15:49.9. Schmidt and Thiel are juniors; the other two guys are sophomores.

“It’s going to be fast next year,” Thiel said.

The Glacier standout won the Mountain West Invitational on this same track, in a race he described as your, “pretty fast, or on-average cross country race.”

“But today was super tactical,” Thiel added. “It went out super-duper slow. The first two miles were slow and I think that played into Wilson’s hands, being a really fast closer. Being ahead at the two-mile, he was able to close faster than any of us.”

Schmidt, Neil and Thiel were within 1.1 seconds of each other at that mark.

“I was going to start hammering it down a little bit, but everybody had that speed too,” Thiel said. “Everyone was feeling good.”

It wasn’t a fast track, though Schmidt did hit his PR by almost eight seconds. Thiel noted his time Saturday was four seconds off the 15:41.1 he had at the Mountain West, a Sept. 28 race for which he couldn’t really taper.

“Tapered like no one’s business for this race,” Thiel said. “It just wasn’t there today.”

Bissen, meanwhile, led Rutherford at the two-mile mark, which comes not long after the runners climb a Heartbreak Hill. The sophomore didn’t fade; her splits were 5:55, 6:00 and 6:01. Rutherford and Ross just were a little faster.

“I was going to pass up the hill and see how long I could hang on,” Bissen said. “And it’s OK that (Rutherford) passed me. I was proud of my effort.” 

With Anna Tretter, Dacia Benkleman, Alyssa Vollertsen and Hailey Fiala finishing 24-28-41-57 (Miel Newton was 58th), Glacier finished fourth in the girls team race with 153 points. The top three were Gallatin (52), Bozeman (68) and defending champion Missoula Hellgate (129).

Thiel’s time Saturday was also off her Mountain West mark of 18:22.7.

“That’s OK though,” she said. “It’s where I was for today and I was proud of myself and really proud of my team.”

Flathead was sixth in the team race at 166 points (Helena had 154), and had two All-State runners in senior Josie Wilson and freshman Everett Holland. They were sixth and ninth.

“I was hoping for a little higher place, a little better time,” said Wilson, who ran 19:06.1. “But I have never gotten All-State so I’m happy as I could be.” 

Holland ‘s time was 19:12.3.

“Everett’s been a great addition to our team,” said Wilson, sporting team-wid eye black. “We didn’t really know what she was capable of at the beginning, and she just kind of got after it. I’m so happy for her.”

Bozeman won the boys team title with 56 points and Helen was next at 71, with Hellgate third at 115. Glacier and Flathead finished fifth and sixth.  

Flathead’s Robbie Nuila finished 15th to claim the final All-State spot for the boys.

Full results can be found at mhsa.org.

    Glacier Sophomore Lauren Bissen runs during the AA girls race at the 2024 State Cross Country Championships at the UM Golf Course in Missoula on October 26th, 2024 (Seth Anderson/Daily Inter Lake)