Cold Wind Blows Hard At State XC Meet

The Glasgow Scottie boys brought home seventh and the girls claimed eighth at the Montana State Class B Cross Country Meet on Oct. 23 in Kalispell. The two-day all-class event was spread out over the course of two days and spectators were limited to accommodate the global coronavirus pandemic that has struck Montana hard over the last few weeks. But viruses were not the only natural event to put added pressure and to change things up on this year's runners. As of Friday afternoon, an October snowstorm had dumped inches of snow in Kalispell and temps were staying well below freezing as the Scotties took on the Big Sky State's best Class B runners.

"Conditions weren't great with the snow," said freshman runner and top placer for the Scottie girls, Emily See. She went on to add, "I think we've fallen short of our goals, to bring home hardware, but as a team I think we did really good."

See placed seventh overall for the girls in what was her first of many probable State meets with the Scotties. Asked how she felt about her breakout performance at State she replied it was "pretty good." With further questioning she said, "When I went into the race, I didn't know where I was going to finish at all. While I was running, I thought, 'I can push harder than this,' so I did, and I placed seventh."

Falling in behind See for the Scotties was junior Iris McKean who had led the team the entire year with run times below the 20-minute mark but came in 10th at the state meet. McKean felt the cold weather and some pre-race anxiousness held her back during the race, and she had hoped to finish much higher and much faster than she had. Undeterred however, she pointed out that her finish this year was still an improvement from her performance last year at state where she placed 13th overall. She now claims two all-state honors finishes and is looking for number three in 2021.

Discussing her senior season McKean explained that it will be bitter-sweet, but she plans a repeat to State and is looking forward to one more year with her teammates. "It's going to be sad, but it will be fun," she said.

In addition to the two all-state finishers for the girls, the Scotties Carl Zabrocki earned himself an all-state honors finish coming in just inside the top 15 at number 14 overall at the meet. Zabrocki led the boys in their seventh-place team finish.

State Meet Results:

Boys Scores: Lincoln County 63, Manhattan 85, Three Forks 154, Wolf Point 179, Huntley Project 199, Glasgow 209, Broadwater 213, St. Ignatius 265, Thompson Falls 316, Bigfork 322, Jefferson 333, Red Lodge 334, Cut Bank 365, Harlem 396, Poplar 439, Powell County 458, Shepherd 478, Colstrip 487, Loyola-Sacred Heart 502, Whitehall 537, Anaconda 545, Rocky Boy 617

Carl Zabrocki 14th 18:28.95

Lane Thompson 40th 19:29.80

Reed Larsen 48th 20:03.24

Blake Lloyd 51st 20:15.20

Colter Cumber 56th 20:23.65

Bergen Miller 57th 20:23.89

Riley Smith 74th 20:45.56

Girls Scores: Broadwater 59, Manhattan 60, Red Lodge 99, Huntley Project 159, Three Forks 192, Shepherd 260, Sweet Grass County 284, Glasgow 285, Thompson Falls 310, Lincoln County 313, St. Ignatius 330, Powell County 365, Anaconda 496, Poplar 503, Malta 503

Emily See 7th 21:37.89

Iris McKean 10th 21:53.37

Haylly Turner 64th 25:12.59

Elizabeth Nyquist 100th 27:39.44

Kira Beck 104th 28:15.94

Eve Stone 107th 28:33.49