Glacier’s Bissen, Thiel Earn Individual Titles at Flathead Invite
The Bozeman Hawks swept the team titles at the state's first big cross country invitational of the season
By Micah Drew
Flathead High School hosted the first major cross country meet of the season at Rebecca Farm on Sept. 6 with 29 teams competing from as far away as Lacombe, Alberta.
In the varsity races at Friday’s Flathead Invite, athletes from Glacier High School ran away with the individual titles in state-leading times while the Bozeman Hawks swept both team titles for the second year in a row.
Glacier sophomore Lauren Bissen won the 5-kilometer (5K) girls race in a time of 18:48.4, the fastest time of the season across all classifications, according to athletic.net.
Bissen ran most of the race side-by-side with Bozeman sophomore Kylee Neil, before pulling away in the final mile to win by 19 seconds. Flathead’s top runner, senior Josie Wilson, finished in fifth.
At last year’s state meet, Bissen was the runner-up finishing just a tenth of a second ahead of Neil, and both runners will be targeting two-time defending state champion Claire Rutherford of Gallatin High School this fall.
Neil led her team to a runaway victory in the team race, scoring just 46 points to beat Helena (112) and Class AA defending champion Hellgate (126) in third. The Wolfpack finished fourth and the Flathead Bravettes finished in fifth.
Polson sophomore Morgan Delaney finished third overall in 19:14.6, the fastest time in Class A this season. Led by Mya Badger in 19th, Columbia Falls tied for second place with perennial rival Corvallis, but won the tie-breaker with the performance of their sixth runner.
The varsity boys race played out similarly with Glacier junior Owen Thiel running 15:31.7 to win a close race over Big Sky’s Isaiah Cowan and Sentinel’s Tyler Inabnit. Flathead’s Robbie Nuila, the top returner from last year’s state meet, finished eighth followed by teammate Kasen Kastener in 10th.
The Hawks won the meet with 53 points, ahead of Helena (79) in second. Among local teams, the Flathead boys finished in fourth, while the Wolfpack finished sixth.
Columbia Falls finished third among Class A teams, with junior River Blazejewski as their top runner in 20th. Whitefish senior Simon Douglas was the top finisher for the Bulldogs in 27th.
Glacier High School will host another meet at Rebecca Farm on Oct. 16. All classifications will compete at the MHSA state meet in Missoula on Oct. 26.
Flathead Invite Top Results:
Varsity Girls
- Bozeman — 46
- Helena — 112
- Hellgate — 126
- Lauren Bissen, Glacier — 18:42.05
- Kylie Neil, Bozeman — 19:01.08
- Morgan Delaney, Polson — 19:14.66
- Marina Tulloch, Plains — 19:41.93
- Josie Wilson, Flathead — 19:43.99
Varsity Boys
- Bozeman — 53
- Helena — 79
- Hellgate — 122
- Owen Thiel, Glacier— 15:31.71
- Isaiah Cowan, Big Sky — 15:36.79
- Tyler Inabnit, Sentinel — 15:39.75
- Taylor Neil, Bozeman — 15:48.49
- Henry Sund, Helena — 15:53.90
Complete results for the Flathead Invite can be viewed here.