Great Falls High’s Harrington third at Mountain West Classic
Great Falls High All-State runner Ryan Harrington continued his fine start to his junior season, finishing third at the Mountain West Classic in Missoula Saturday.
Harrington’s 5k time of 15:41.5 paced the Bison boys’ cross country team to a sixth-place finish in one of the region’s largest prep races.
Senior MacGwyer Palmer earned 20th for Great Falls High in a field of over 400 runners in the boys’ race, while sophomore Conrad Schruth finished 29th.
The Bison were fourth overall among Montana teams, with Missoula Sentinel taking boys’ team honors while Bozeman was runner-up in an event that included teams from Idaho, Washington, and Treasure State squads from all classifications.
Weston Brown and Nathan Neil of Bozeman High finished first and second, respectively, in the boys' race, while Annastasia Peters of Post Falls, Idaho was the girls' medalist. The Bozeman girls' won the team trophy Saturday, earning a tie-breaking win over Class A Hardin.
C.M. Russell High freshman Aizalyn Flaten was the top girls’ finisher from the Electric City with a showing of 20th place among over 330 varsity runners. Vail Van Voast paced the Great Falls High girls as the sophomore took 49th.
Emerson Hamma, a freshman, was the highest finisher for the Rustler boys as he crossed the finish line 65th.
The Bison and Rustler harriers play host to the Great Falls Invite next Friday at Anaconda Hills Golf Course at 3 p.m.
Here’s a look at the seasons so far for Great Falls’ cross country teams:
Great Falls High
The Bison boys finished with a team trophy at the state meet last season, and welcome back a familiar cast of characters.
Ryan Harrington, who finished fourth at state last fall to lead the Great Falls High third-place finish, has returned to form this season. In the first two meets of the season, the junior topped the podium at the Mike Reynolds Time Trials in Cut Bank and finished fourth last weekend at the Bozeman Invite with a personal-best 5k time of 15:51.5.
Senior MacGwyer Palmer, another returning All-State harrier, earned ninth in Bozeman, while sophomore Conrad Schruth was also in the top 15 with a personal record time.
Junior John Spinti, 22nd at the state meet last season, is back as the No. 4 runner for the Bison, followed by Ashtyn Rask and Nathaniel Mayer. Freshman Hiram Campbell saw his first varsity action Saturday in Missoula for Great Falls High as well.
“Last weekend in Bozeman, just about everyone ran a lifetime (personal record), so that was a good race for them. That was better than we had expected, I think this early,” Bison head coach Bob Stingley said. “The boys ran well over the summer for the most part, especially that top 3-4, really put in lots of miles and it shows as we get into the meets here and get further into the season.”
Harrington, Schruth and senior Teancum Palmer all also play soccer for the Bison and head coach Ian Deal.
The Great Falls High girls have lighter numbers this season but are led by sophomore Vail Van Voast, who earned 10th in Cut Bank and 37th in Bozeman.
Fellow sophomores Sophie Eckenststein and Olivia Pfile will also help lead the Great Falls High unit, while the remainder of the varsity is a “rotating crew,” Stingley said.
“Last year we were just outside of top 10, so with this group this year, and with some new kids out, if we could get into that top 10 placed around 7th or so, that would be a good outing for this crew, because we only have one senior running varsity so most of them are freshman and sophomores,” Stingley said.
CMR
The Rustlers did not feature a top 15 state finish on either the girls’ or boys’ side last year, but mentor Nathan Gregier said he’s seen plenty to give him optimism for this season.
“After two meets, I know that both our boys’ and girls’ squads are more competitive this year, which is nice to see,” Gregier said. “The kids that are coming back from last season are racing really well and we’ve got some new kids that have really helped improved the competitiveness of our team this year.”
The top runner for the Rustlers this year has been freshman Aizalyn Flaten, who finished fifth at the Bozeman Invite last Saturday. Her 5k time of 19:47.65 put her ranked fourth overall among Class AA competition, according to rankings compiled on athletic.net.
“(Flaten) ran with us at camp and throughout the summer, and pretty much after the first few practices, I had a feeling that she was an All-State-caliber runner, and in her first few races we weren’t sure if practice would translate into performance, and it definitely has,” Gregier said. “For her age, she’s a very smart competitor, she follows instruction really well and race strategy.”
Senior Sarah Faulk is the Rustlers captain and vocal leader, Gregier said, while sophomore Grace Kauffman and senior Skylia Dalgarno are also fine contributors for CMR.
Freshman Emerson Hamma was the top finisher for the CMR boys in Bozeman, while junior Brayden Sundquist was fifth in Cut Bank.
“Emerson is a kid that we’ve been working with since he was a sixth grader at Meadow Lark (Elementary), and we knew that he had some talent, so he’s been a part of our program for a while as far as training out of season,” Gregier said. “We kind of expected him to come in and compete right away and he’s done that for us.”
Gregier also praised the efforts of Sundquist, who he said “has been extremely committed and made some big improvements as well.”
Sundquist and three other CMR harriers also play soccer for head coach Michael Aunan, including juniors Cole Stuart, Micah Gonzalez and Garret Bodily.
Grady Higgins covers prep sports for the Tribune. He can be reached at ghiggins@greatfallstribune.com
This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Great Falls High’s Ryan Harrington third at Mountain West Classic
