Page 68 - Flathead Beacon // 8.31.16

SPORTS
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CROSS COUNTRY
Forty- ve years after girls cross coun- try was o cially sanctioned as a high school sport in Montana, the Treasure State has a remarkable tradition of stel- lar distance runners.
The latest, and one of the greatest, is in our midst — Glacier junior Annie Hill. Hill is one of the nation’s fastest prep runners and the reigning Gatorade Mon- tana Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. This fall, the all-class record holder will have a chance at winning her third consecutive Class AA title in her home- town. The state cross country meet comes to Kalispell for the rst time on
Oct. 22 at Rebecca Farm.
This season should be another spec-
tacular one for Hill, who will try to whit- tle down her current record of 16 min- utes, 30 seconds, which she set a year ago in Great Falls. Her top Class AA com- petitor from last year, Christina Ara- gon of Billings Senior, has graduated on to Stanford University. Billings Senior sophomore Tiahna Vladic ran exception- ally well last season, clocking 17:08, and could be Hill’s top competition this fall.
Flathead junior Kaitlin Wride is also one of the state’s best runners. Wride placed sixth at state last year, running 17:29. She followed up with an impressive track season that saw her run 4:58 in the 1,600-meter race.
Bozeman, which has won nine girls team championships in a row, welcomes back its top ve runners and will be a force to reckon with.
In Bigfork, Bryn Morley is the reigning Class B state champion and the Valkyries are the reigning team champions with three of its top runners returning. Mor- ley, now a junior, won last year’s title in a time of 17:26.15. She also helped Big- fork claim the team trophy for the rst time since 2002. Sophomore Anya Young placed third a year ago and classmate Ali- cia Kalenak was 13th.
In the Class A ranks, Polson welcomes back two all-state runners: junior Ryan Harrop placed sixth last year (19:36) and Malia Seeley nished 10th (19:55). Soph- omore Molly Sitter (20:02) nished 16th.
On the boys side, Flathead sophomore Ben Perrin is ready to emerge from the shadows of his state-champion older brothers, Zach and Jake, and establish his own legacy. As only a freshman, Ben ran 15:51 at the Class AA state meet in Great Falls. During the track season he made even more progress as an all-state run- ner, setting himself up as a championship contender in the making.
The Class AA boys title is largely up for grabs now that the top two nishers from a year ago — champion Jake Perrin and Helena’s Aidan Reed — have graduated.
Glacier returns three skilled runners: seniors Tevyn Stetson and Brock Adkins and sophomore Jordan Stetson.
Bozeman has the top two returning runners in the state, seniors Riley Col- lins and Chase Equall, and is seeking its
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Annie Hill is the returning Montana Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the Year. BEACON FILE PHOTO
eighth straight team championship.
In the Class A ranks, Columbia Falls senior Sage Wanner is back as an all-state talent. Wanner placed eighth a year ago
in 16:05.
In the Class B ranks, Bigfork’s Logan
Morley has graduated after back-to-back championships, leaving the podium open to a new victor.
VOLLEYBALL
The reigning Class A state champions in Columbia Falls are back for more.
Head coach Jessy Matthews has almost her entire squad back, includ- ing all-state setter Cydney Finberg, all- state middle blocker Morgan Stenger, as well as standouts Kiara Burlage, Kaitlyn Casazza and Anna Nicosia. Last season Columbia Falls defeated Corvallis 25-17, 25-22 and 25-15 to win the team’s rst state title since 1996. The Wildkats n- ished 20-3 overall.
White sh, which nished 13-8 over- all last year, welcomes back all-state mid- dle hitter Cailyn Ross. The Lady Bulldogs will try to return to the state tournament, where the girls lost out to Belgrade in the opening round a year ago.
In the Class AA ranks, Flathead would like to keep the momentum roll- ing with its 10th consecutive trip to the state tournament. Last season under rst-year head coach Courtney Baker, the Bravettes went 15-7 in the regular season and earned an automatic bid to the tour- nament. The girls advanced to the sec- ond round before bowing out. Several top players graduated, including all-state
libero Jourdon Schultz, but Baker has tal- ented senior Tiana Johnson back, along with Alyssa Wisher and Abbi Chavez.
Glacier is in a similar situation after graduating a host of starters, but head coach Christy Harkins has talent waiting in the wings. The Wolfpack nished 15-11 last season after losing in a playo match and missing out on the state tournament for the rst time since 2009. Second-team all-conference middle blocker Nikki Krueger is back as a leader of the Pack.
GOLF
Who will be the next great golfer from the Flathead Valley?
That remains to be seen now that sev- eral of the latest top talents have grad- uated, such as Class A state champion Coral Schulz at White sh or Glacier’s Teigan Avery and Tommy Mann.
Each school has young talent but now the exciting part will be watching to see who emerges with the championship-cal- iber abilities.
White sh’s Haley Nicholson controls the ball in a game against Polson last year. BEACON FILE PHOTO AUGUST 31, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM