Scottie XC Falls Short of Hardware at State Meet

The Scottie cross country runners crossed the Hi-Line to compete at the state meet in Kalispell on Oct. 22. Led by senior runners Morgan Guttenberg, Brinlie Nielsen and Kasey Seyfert, they fell short of bringing home hardware, with the girls' team placing sixth overall and the boys' team finishing just one place away from a trophy in fourth. Each Scottie runner placed in the top half of all competitors at the meet.

Leading the way for the girls was sophomore Brooke Westby, who placed 24th out of 167 runners with a time of 20:53.90, followed by another soph runner, Emily Kolstad, who finished 37th with a time of 21:36.12. The lone freshman girl, Ali Cunningham, came in 44th with a time of 21.51.19, and Alaina Sallee, sophomore, placed 54th with a time of 22:11.70. Nielsen finished 60th with a time of 22:23.96 followed by sophomore Katie Kaiser, 64th, 22:29.24. Guttenberg wrapped up her senior year with an 86th-place finish and a time of 23.21.00, which was more than eight minutes faster than the final runner for the girls.

Girls Team Scores: Manhattan 60, Bigfork 71, Colstrip 133, Lincoln County (Eureka) 141, Broadwater (Townsend) 165, Glasgow 182, Red Lodge 191, Huntley Project 248, Shepherd 268, Poplar 277, St. Labre Catholic 304, Libby 370, Roundup 376, Loyola-Sacred Heart 393, Harlem 405, Columbus 438, Malta 449, Three Forks 454, St. Ignatius 491, Thompson Falls 530, and Rocky Boy 534. No scores for: Anaconda, Cut Bank, Jefferson County (Boulder), Lame Deer, Lodge Grass, Powell County (Deer Lodge), Ronan, Shelby, Sweet Grass County (Big Timber) and Whitehall.

For the boys, another group of young runners represented the Scotties. Leading the way and earning All-State recognition was sophomore stand-out Ellis McKean, who placed 11th overall with a time of 16:52.23. Freshman Ike Braaten followed McKean less than one minute later, finishing 18th with a time of 17:03.95. Another stand-out runner, sophomore Merlin McKean, placed 29th with a time of 17:24.05, followed by another frosh, Wilson Overby, who placed 42nd with a time of 17:42.30. Placing 52nd with a time of 17:59.55 was soph runner Colin Jamba, followed by the only senior boy to compete at the state meet, Seyfert. Seyfert placed 82nd overall with a time of 18:49.95, followed by the final Scottie runner, freshman Jacob Meiers, who placed 90th with a time of 19:03.05. Meiers' time was more than 10 minutes faster than the last runner to cross the finish line.

Boys Team Scores: Broadwater (Townsend) 48, Manhattan 94, St. Labre Catholic 108, Glasgow 152, Ronan 153, Shepherd 181, Lincoln County (Eureka) 219, Colstrip 290, Anaconda 301, Bigfork 361, Loyola-Sacred Heart 376, Joliet 381, Lame Deer 393, Thompson Falls 397, Libby 417, Three Forks 450, Huntley Project 462, Whitehall 526, Jefferson County (Boulder) 534, Roundup 573, Wolf Point 586, Lodge Grass 602, Cut Bank 621, Powell County (Deer Lodge) 650, Poplar 662, and Harlem 739. No scores for: Columbus, Rocky Boy, Shelby, St. Ignatius and Sweet Grass County (Big Timber).