Makena Morley has run herself into the national spotlight once again.
Fresh off an appearance in Sports Illustrated magazine, the fleet-footed junior from Bigfork qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals last weekend after placing second at the Nike Northwest Regional in Boise. Morley ran the 5,000-meter championship race in 17 minutes, 36 seconds, finishing nine seconds behind first-place Alexa Efraimson of Oregon. A total of 158 runners from seven states competed in the elite race. Christina Aragon of Billings Senior placed sixth and Piper Meuwissen of Bozeman earned 14th. The Bozeman girls won the team trophy. Jason Holmes of Bozeman earned 13th in the boys championship race.
Morley now has a decision to make. The 10th annual Nike Cross Nationals championship meet is Dec. 7 in Portland. But that same day, Foot Locker is holding its annual West Regional Cross Country Championship race, which decides who advances to the Foot Locker National Championship. Last year Morley placed third at the regional race and 24th at the national championship.
Morley appeared in the recent issue of Sports Illustrated, earning a shout out in the “Faces in the Crowd” section for shattering the all-class state record at the state championship cross country meet last month. The Nov. 11 edition featured a picture of Morley and a brief description of her historic race at the state meet, when she won her third consecutive championship in 16:35, nearly 15 seconds better than the all-class record.