Scottie Boys and Girls Harriers Finish 4 and 6 at State

The scene in Great Falls was bleak the morning of Oct. 26. Gray overcast hung over the plains, a cold wind blew from the Rockies to the West and a blanket of snow had tucked the ground in before winter sets in for the season. It was in that scene that the Scottie harriers took on the rest of the state during the Montana State Cross Country Meet.

"We were definitely not ready for that," exclaimed Scottie sophomore and All-State finisher Iris McKean discussing the weather conditions and snow. "We haven't run in anything like that all season so we were definitely unprepared."

The Scottie boys came in just out of hardware bringing in fourth place behind Lincoln County, Manhattan and St. Labre Catholic School. The girls pulled a sixth place finish falling behind Broadwater County, Manhattan, Red Lodge, Lodge Grass and Huntley Project. The meet results were short of what the Scotties were hoping to capture going into State, but the results were still positive for McKean and Scottie senior Wilson Overby.

"We didn't really get our goal of getting on podium," explained McKean. "But we all worked really hard and we gave it our all."

"We really wanted to place and bring home hardware," said Overby about the boys' performance. "We were 15 points off which was kind of a bummer, but I thought everyone ran well considering the conditions and everything that happened."

"I thought it went well," said Overby pausing to recall his performance. Overby fell in second place at the state meet joining an exclusive list of only three Scottie boys runners to take silver at state. No Scottie boys have finished first in the school's history. Still the look of disappointment was palpable when Overby discussed the silver medal finish.

"Obviously, I really wanted to get that state championship, but I gave it everything I have and I came away with second so I can't complain." Of the three silver finishers in the school's past, one was Ellis McKean – a good friend of Overby's. "It was cool to kind of like, almost kind of follow Ellis in his state performance."

Overby finished a mere three and half seconds behind Brad Cichosz from Harlem, Mont. "It was really neck and neck and it just came down to the finish," recalled Overby.

"We had a good team and a good group of boys. I thought it was pretty successful," said Overby discussing the season. "I think after losing so many seniors last year, lots of people stepped up and really did well. We came away higher than I expected so I'd call that a win."

Amongst the All-State finishers were Carl Zabrocki for the boys who claimed the eighth slot, and Iris McKean for the girls claiming the last All-State slot at 15. Senior runner Ali Cunningham fell just out of the All State rankings coming in at the number 16 spot – just over 11 seconds behind McKean.

Results:

Boys Scores: Lincoln County (Eureka) 73, Manhattan 96, St. Labre Catholic 165, Glasgow 180, Lodge Grass 183, Broadwater (Townsend) 198, Red Lodge 211, Huntley Project 305, Harlem 306, St. Ignatius 313, Cut Bank 330, Three Forks 339, Big Fork 356, Wolf Point 415, Shepherd 422, Anaconda 485, Sweet Grass Co. (Big Timber) 485, Thompson Falls 525, Columbus 541, Powell Co. (Deer Lodge) 568, Colstrip 577, Loyola-Sacred Heart 583, Joliet 622, Great Falls Central Catholic 655, Arlee 664, Rocky Boy 757, Jefferson (Boulder) NS, Lame Deer NS, Poplar NS, Roundup NS, Shelby NS, Whitehall NS, Fairfield NS

Wilson Overby            2nd        17:12.24  (All State)

Carl Zabrocki              8th        17:54.52  (All State)

Bergen Miller             40th      19:19.52

Jacob Meiers               57th      19:45.10

Lane Thompson           73rd      20:05.56

Reed Larsen                93rd      20:35.60

Blake Lloyd                  116th    21:16.78

Girls Scores: Broadwater Co. (Townsend) 65, Manhattan 79, Red Lodge 187, Lodge Grass 227, Huntley Project 239, Glasgow 276, Shepherd 278, Bigfork 289, Lincoln Co. (Eureka) 306, Colstrip 312, Thompson Falls 333, St. Labre Catholic 344, Sweet Grass Co. (Big Timber) 375, Roundup 413, Wolf Point 471, Powell Co. (Deer Lodge) 559, Malta 578, Joliet 606, Great Falls Central Catholic 639, Jefferson (Boulder) 667, Arlee 690, Anaconda NS, Columbus NS, Cut Bank NS, Harlem NS, Loyola-Sacred Heart NS, Poplar NS, Rocky Boy NS, Shelby NS, St. Ignatius NS, Three Forks NS, Whitehall NS, Fairfield NS

Iris McKean                 15th      20:57.51  (All State)

Ali Cunningham          16th      21:08.91

Lauren Padden            43rd      23:06.11

Haylly Turner              86th      24:14.24

Stevie Hartwell           116th    25:38.46

Kira Beck                     119th    25:50.59

Elizabeth Nyquist        124th    26:12.99