Saturday
at University of Montana Golf Course, Missoula
- The meet has returned to its single-day format after being spread across two days in 2020 due to CoVID-19 restrictions.
- Temperatures are forecast to be in the 50s with a chance of rain showers.
Class AA
Boys
2020 team champion: Missoula Sentinel Spartans
2020 individual champion: Stirling Marshall-Pryde, Bozeman (graduated)
Start time: 11 a.m.
2021 storylines: Sentinel and Missoula Hellgate were separated by eight points at the 2020 state meet, and could be on a collision course for a similar finish this year. Sentinel enters the state meet with six runners in the top 40 in the class, four in the top 16, three in the top 10 and two in the top two; meanwhile Hellgate has six in the top 42, five in the top 30, three in the top 10 and one in the top three. Could be a tight finish to say the least.
The Spartans ended a 12-year run of titles from Bozeman in 2020, which is still a threat despite the dominance from Sentinel and Hellgate this season with six of its own runners in the top 40 — five of whom are in the top 22 but are mostly grouped together 19 through 22.
Sentinel’s Tanner Klumph, who placed second in 2020 to Marshall-Pryde, has the top time in the class but right behind him, by just under a second, is Kalispell Glacier’s Sam Ells who could make some noise at the top of the individual leaderboard. Ells has beaten Klumph in head-to-head races twice, and hasn’t lost a race since Sept. 18. Hellgate’s Finneas Colescott is also in the mix for the individual crown with two wins over Klumph this year.
The three competed on the state meet course head-to-head back at the Mountain West Classic in September. Klumph finished fourth (16:02.1), Ells was fifth (16:05.6) and Colescott was sixth (16:12.0) as the three were the top Montana-based runners.
Girls
2020 team champion: Bozeman Hawks
2020 individual champion: Kensey May, Missoula Hellgate
Start time: 12 p.m.
2021 storylines: No one has repeated as AA individual state champion since Kalispell Glacier’s Annie Hill (2014-15), but May has been the top of AA all season and could buck that trend. May has placed first in all but one race this season — a third-place showing at the Mountain West Classic when she finished behind runners from out of state, and ahead of her biggest competition.
The first of that competition is Kylie Hartnett out of Helena High who is also the 2019 champion. Hartnett was five seconds behind May at last year’s state meet, but May’s PR of 17:59.8 is a bit ahead of Hartnett’s season-best mark of 18:17.3. Not far off either of them is Bozeman’s Hayley Burns in third.
On the team side, Bozeman is the team to beat on paper. The Hawks have six runners in the top 20 led by Burns. Bozeman has won 13 of the past 14 titles, and could be on its way to No. 14 of 15. Hellgate, which lost to Bozeman by just four points in 2020, doesn’t have the same numbers at the top as last year with the graduations of Abby Kendrick (third in 2020) and Sage Brooks (fourth) but could surprise if its depth pulls through. With three runners in the top 10 entering, don’t count out Helena either.
Class A
Boys
2020 team champion: Hamilton Broncs
2020 individual champion: Colter Purcell (Hamilton)
Start time: 11:30 a.m.
2021 storylines: Hamilton ran away with the state title in 2020 marking the lowest team point total of any of the five-person scoring races at 35 points, 19 ahead of runner-up Hardin. The Broncs didn’t graduate a single one of their scoring athletes, making a consecutive title all but assured, as Hardin lost three seniors. Don’t be surprised if all of Hamilton’s scoring runners cross the line in the top 20, if not the top 15.
Defending champion Colter Purcell has not won a cross country meet this season, but has been top four in all but one race. His teammate Colter Kirkland has posted a handful of runner-up finishes this year, and has edged out Purcell several times, but the top time in the state (16:15.7) belongs to Brinson Wyche of Corvallis. Wyche won the Western A Classic and the Hamilton Invitational over both of the Broncs runners, making his case as the top Class A runner. However a third Bronc, Lane Cole, might also be in the mix after running the state’s second fastest time, 16:23, the same day Wyche ran his PR.
Girls
2020 team champion: Laurel Locomotives
2020 individual champion: Brynnli Poulsen, Hamilton (graduated)
Start time: 12:35 p.m.
2021 storylines: After two years of domination in the individual race, Hamilton’s Brynnli Poulsen, who set a Class A record during her win in 2019, has graduated and taken her talents to Boise State, meaning Class A will crown a new girls champion this year. Columbia Falls’ Hannah Sempf is the top returner from the 2020 meet, when the now-senior finished third. However, Sempf has switched off as the No. 1 runner for the Wildkats in several races with junior Siri Erickson who also has one of the few sub-20 minute times this season. Hardin’s Mariah Aragon won the Eastern A Classic last week followed closely by freshman Ryleigh Kleinke of Sidney, both of whom will try to bring the individual title across the Divide.
After Laurel broke Hardin’s four-year streak on top of the podium last year, relegating the Bulldogs to third behind Columbia Falls, Hardin is ready to make a run back towards the top, but so too are the Wildkats, who are seeking their first state title. Both teams are led by runners who will be at the front of the race, and backed up by a strikingly similar cadre of athletes. During the Capital City 7 of 7 meet, one of the few times the schools raced each other, each member of the scoring varsity from both teams was within 13 (and sometimes within just two) seconds of the other team’s respective runner. A head to head matchup sans Class AA runners in the mix, could be decided by mere points.
Class B
Boys
2020 team champion: Eureka Lions
2020 individual champion: Zander Ackerman, Wolf Point (graduated)
Start time: 1:10 p.m.
2021 storylines: Of all the races at the state meet, the Class B boys looks the most open on paper. Eureka is coming off back-to-back titles, but graduated four seniors from last season’s squad and two-time runner-up Manhattan graduated three. The Lions return two top-10 finishers in Gavin Bates and Isaac Reynolds, but haven’t put together nearly as tight of a spread as last year and lost by a point in the Western B/C Divisional meet to Bigfork. Wolf Point, Huntley Project and Glasgow will be in the podium mix from the eastern side of the state after some very close head-to-head finishes throughout the season.
Red Lodge’s Brandon Emineth is the top returner from last year’s meet when he finished fifth, and the senior has four wins to his name this season, including a 1/100th of a second win over Huntley Project’s Kevin Graves last weekend. Expect these two to battle it out for the individual title along with Wolf Point’s Peyton Summers who has lost just twice all season.
Girls
2020 team champion: Townsend Bulldogs
2020 individual champion: Hallie Hemenway, Manhattan (graduated)
Start time: 2:10 p.m.
2021 storylines: Townsend earned their second of back-to-back titles by a single point over Manhattan in 2020. Led by Bulldogs senior Emma Stolte, who already has a third-place and runner-up finish in her career, can she complete the set by finally standing atop the podium and help push her team to a third title? The only Class B runner who has beaten her this season is Big Timber’s Natalie Wood in September during the Mountain West Classic, also held on the same course that will be used for state. Wood was the runner-up in 2020. Both raced last Saturday in the Rusty Raisland Memorial race in Townsend and Stolte was the victor by seven seconds.
Look for much of the team race to come down to the Southern B as Townsend and Manhattan have won all of the previous four titles and would look to continue the streak. However, Red Lodge brings depth into the meet with six runners who have PRs all within two minutes of each other. If the Rams work their way up the field together, they could be a strong contender to finish atop the podium.
Class C
Boys
2020 team champion: Manhattan Christian Eagles
2020 individual champion: Sam Smith, Richey-Lambert (graduated)
Start time: 1:40 p.m.
2021 storylines: The Eagles will be going for their sixth straight Class C title. If they do, they’ll move into a tie for third with Jefferson (1987-92), Kalispell Flathead (1997-2002) and Missoula Loyola (1999-2004) for most consecutive boys cross country titles won and move onto the list of most all-time titles won. Led by sophomore and last year’s third-place finisher Oren Arthun, the Eagles have seven runners this season with times in the top 20. Arthun has the season’s best time coming into the meet, however he could face a challenge from Drummond’s Scott Parke whose best is just five seconds behind. The rest of the field trails by almost 40 seconds.
2020 runners-up Richey-Lambert has to find ways to replace the points earned by Smith (who has since moved on to Montana State) and Nicholas Ellerton if they want to make the podium again. And behind brothers Asa and Clayton Jassen, Belt-Centerville is looking to improve on their third-place finish from 2020.
Girls
2020 team champion: Manhattan Christian Eagles
2020 individual champion: Lindsey Paulson, Belt-Centerville
Start time: 2:45 p.m.
2021 storylines: Manhattan Christian joined their boys counterparts atop the podium last season for the first time since 2001 in a race that came down to a single point over previous champions Seeley-Swan. The Eagles come back perhaps even stronger this season led by juniors Jadyn VanDyken and Ava Bellach. But in Class C, the top 3 runners score so the determining factor will be whose third runner makes a push on Saturday.
If Paulson were to repeat, she would be the first Class C girls champion to repeat since West Yellowstone’s Bailee Parker (2014, 2015). Her best time this season is about 15 seconds better than the field, but two-time runner-up Annie Kaul (Plentywood) currently holds the second-best time. The two have raced once this season in early September with Paulson winning, but they also went 1-2 on the track in Missoula in May with Paulson the victor in the 1,600 and Kaul winning the 3,200. Paulson has been challenged by racing in bigger meets this season like the Mountain West and Capital City 7 of 7 while Kaul’s season has been dominated by meets in Eastern Montana and on the Hi-Line.
Lance Hartzler and Lindsay Rossmiller of 406mtsports.com contributed to this preview.