Page 64 - Flathead Beacon // 10.26.16

SPORTS
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UCKED IN THE CROWD NEAR the nish line of last weekend’s state cross country meet, wearing
a blue poncho and a well-worn cap that read “Bigfork Track & Field,” Neil Elia- son scribbled on a small notepad. As each local runner streamed past, he marked their place. When the rst race was over, he tallied the numbers in his head. He was happy to see that Bigfork would be bringing home a trophy.
There was plenty to be happy about on Oct. 22 as the skies cleared and the rain halted, ushering in a ne day for the rst Montana cross country championship meet in Kalispell’s history.
The spirit of competition among more than 100 schools and 1,100 competitors from across Big Sky Country shined bright, as did a sports tradition with a rich history in this valley.
Eliason — known as the godfather of girls track in Montana for establishing a pioneering program in Kalispell in the early 1960s — also organized the rst girls cross country state meet back in the fall of 1965, a year after boys cross country was formed.
Now in his mid-80s, Eliason still enjoys attending local track and cross country meets and seeing the sport ourish.
“It’s doing well,” he said at last week- end’s state meet. “It was always my favor- ite sport. They didn’t have it when I was in high school and living on a ranch. I lived six miles from town. I could’ve run back and forth.”
Kalispell’s meet was unique for another reason, too. Instead of taking place on a golf course like previous state meets, the course navigated the grass and hill features at Rebecca Farm west of Kalispell, a world-class equestrian site.
“This is a real cross country course,” Eliason said.
Flathead High School sta , including longtime coach Dan Hodge and activities director Bryce Wilson and others, spent hours putting together the course and preparing for the meet.
“They did an excellent job of getting it
Bryn Morley, center, celebrates with teammates after the race. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
ready. We’re glad that it went o so well,” Paul Jorgensen, Flathead’s longtime boys cross country coach, said.
“We wanted to organize a rst-class event. We wanted to make sure that it was well done.”
Morley Claims Class B Title, Bigfork Girls Take Second
Bryn Morley accomplished a trium- phant defense of her Class B cross coun- try championship only ve months after a stress fracture in her leg sidelined her from running for nearly two months.
The speedy junior, with only two pre- vious races under her belt this fall and the words “Just Run” scrawled on the backs of her legs, cruised to victory in 17:53.
The individual victory gave Morley
her second consecutive Class B title and marked the sixth year in a row that a Mor- ley earned gold. Morley’s older sister, Makena, won four titles from 2011-2014.
Morley’s teammate, Anya Young, n- ished second in 18:56 and the top two individual places propelled the Bigfork girls to a second-place nish as a team. Alicia Kalenak placed 11th, 19:57.95, Haile Norred was 31st, 21:08, and Xiaox- iao Strong was 38th, 21:36.63. The Valky- ries tallied 83 points. Manhattan won the team trophy with 67 points. Colstrip was third, 164.
Bigfork and Manhattan have devel- oped quite the friendly rivalry in recent years. Last year Bigfork unseated the Class B champs of Manhattan for the team trophy. This summer, Manhattan
runners and coaches heard that their Western Montana rival was needing to raise funds for the program and trav- eled across the state to participate in the annual fundraiser race in Bigfork.
Bigfork wanted to reciprocate the nice gesture, so the team hosted Manhattan the night before the state meet for a spa- ghetti dinner at the school. The competi- tors found themselves sitting next to each other like friends.
“That’s a skill I think kids need to learn – you can be friends and still get out and compete, like they did,” Bigfork head coach Sue Loe er, who ran under Eliason at Flathead Valley Community College, said.
“They ran so awesome. I told them to leave everything out on the eld and
Columbia Falls’ Kimberly Peacock leads a group up a hill. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON 64
Glacier’s Annie Hill is helped to her feet after collapsing at the nish line. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON OCTOBER 26, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM