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Williams, Morley Run Away With Titles

By Beacon Staff

The final race of the high school cross country season produced two local state champions.

Bigfork freshman Makena Morley capped her first prep season in dominating fashion, breaking the state record in Class B in Missoula at last weekend’s state cross country meet. Makena won the girls race in 17:45, a slow time by her standards but still good enough to win by a minute over runner-up Selene Johnson of Sweet Grass. The previous state record was 17:58, set in 1996 by Eureka’s Elizabeth Roodell.

Makena’s achievement was pretty much a foregone conclusion entering the finale considering she’s run close to the fastest prep times in state history this season. It’s going to be exciting watching her for the next three years as she chases the ultimate record. She’s already run 17:05, which is only 15 seconds slower than Zoe Nelson’s 2002 AA state record. And she and her family seem to enjoy running quite a bit, so this isn’t a passion that seems like it’s going to fade anytime soon.

To help put her time at state in perspective, here’s the short list of girls in all classes who have broke 18 minutes at the state meet in the last 10 years. You’ll also get to see and appreciate just how fast the AA girls field is and has been.

’11 – Caroline Hardin, Bozeman, 17:25 (in Missoula)
’11 – Dani Aragon, Billings Senior, 17:36 (in Missoula)
’11 – Makena Morley, Bigfork, 17:45 (in Missoula) * Class B state record; previous record,17:58, Elizabeth Roodell, Eureka, 1996
’11 – Paige Gilchrist, Missoula Hellgate, 17:52 (in Missoula)
’11 – Leah Esposito, Helena, 17:58 (in Missoula)
’11 – Andie Creel, Bozeman, 17:59 (in Missoula)
’10 – Caroline Hardin, Bozeman, 17:30
’10 – Dani Aragon, Billings Senior, 17:49
’10 – Paige Gilchrist, Missoula Hellgate, 17:51
’09 – Heidi Turner, Bozeman, 17:59 (in Missoula)
’08 – Heidi Turner, Bozeman, 17:40 (in Missoula)
’08 – Alexa Aragon, Billings Senior, 17:54 (in Missoula)
’07 – Heidi Turner, Bozeman, 17:47
’06 – Katie Gilroy, Helena Capital, 17:42
’04 – Zoe Nelson, Flathead 17:08
’03 – Zoe Nelson, Flathead, 17:35
’02 – Zoe Nelson, Flathead, 16:50 *Class AA state record
’01 – Zoe Nelson, Flathead, 17:29 *Class AA state record; previous record, 17:45, Heidi Lane, CMR
’01 – Heidi Lane, Great Falls CMR, 17:31
(The state meet was held at Bill Roberts Golf Course in Helena every year until recently when Missoula began hosting the event on occasion.)

Columbia Falls senior Derrick Williams captured the first individual title in the program’s 27-year history, winning the Class A boys race.

Williams, who already broke Rob Macal’s previous school record of 15:39 set in 1983, a year before the program was officially organized, clocked 15:30 last Saturday to win by nine seconds.

Williams’ exciting finish is another bright spot for the Wildcat cross country team, which has been on a great run as of late. The team won its first team title two years ago.

In Class AA, Flathead junior Zach Perrin earned his best finish at state, taking second with 15:25. Perrin placed seventh in ’10 with 16:00 and 21st in ’09 with 16:36. It was the fastest time for a Brave runner since 2005, when Elliot Welder placed second on the same course with the same time.

Glacier junior Troy Fraley also earned his best finish at state with fifth place, clocking 15:40.

Polson’s Claudia Hewston placed third in the Class A girls race with 18:47.

Here’s the list of other local runners who earned all-state honors (top 15):
Flathead
Hunter Schutt, 10th
Paige Bouma, 12th
Columbia Falls
Jinise Osborne, 11th
Whitefish
Fischer Gangemi, 9th
Nicole Brist, 14th
Polson
Tegan Bauer, 9th