Once again, the Bengals performed incredibly well, but this time on a course that challenged more than their ability to simply run.
Gallatin County Recreational Park served up a challenge with a two-loop course that featured a steep uphill, steep and muddy downhill with a sharp turn at the bottom, and a creek crossing that claimed a few spikes on Saturday in Bozeman.
The Bengals, however, got down to business and picked up a girls varsity team championship, runner-up finishes for the varsity and JV boys, and a third-place finish by the JV girls. All-in-all, a great day from a team perspective.
On the individual side, Kylie Hartnett (18 minutes, 10 seconds) claimed the championship — her second in the season’s first two races — and all five varsity girls scoring runners finished in the top 16. Odessa Zentz was 6th (19:35), Rylie Schoenfeld finished eighth (20:12), Alyssa Plant placed 11th (20:30) and Carly Ryan crossed the finish line in 16th (20:44). Kylee Wetzel placed 26th (21:27) for the Bengals. (NOTE: the results for the girls varsity race on athletic.net are 20 seconds slow of the actual times recorded by our coaching staff)
On the boys side, Jonah Fisher paced the boys in fourth place (16:29) and was followed by Trystan Brewer (16:58) and Clayton Ryerson (17:02) in 8th and 10th. Ryerson was the only varsity Bengal to improve his time from a week ago, which is an impressive feat considering the difficulty of the Belgrade course. Helena’s fourth runner was Sam Sullivan in 26th (17:42), and he was followed by a tightly packed Bengal trio — Grayson Bonilla (35th, 18:08), Kaden Jenkins (36th, 18:13) and Dallin Christensen (38th, 18:19).
In the girls junior varsity competition, Lexi Erdahl (6th, 22:20) and Breanna Brewer (11th, 22:48)) led the way with top 15 showings. The remaining 13 JV runners placed:
- 17. Annie Menden, 23:25
- 24. Grace Oelkers, 23:57
- 35. Naomi Sweeney, 24:30
- 36. Claire Downing, 24:33
- 42. Tatum McNamara, 24:42
- 46. Maddy Murgel, 24:46
- 59. Laurel Maronick, 25:04
- 65. Chloe Roberts, 25:32
- 67. Olivia Coburn, 25:41
- 70. Erin Grossman, 25:52
- 72. Katelyn Hamill, 25:58
- 74. Haily Tolman, 26:09
- 93. Robin Triem, 27:33
In the boys junior varsity race, Robert Wagner grabbed the lead late in the race and held on for a fourth-place finish in 18:25, and Ethan Nelson joined him in the top 15 with a time of 18:40. (NOTE: the results for the boys junior varsity race on athletic.net are 14 seconds slow of the actual times recorded by our coaching staff). The remaining eight JV runners placed:
- 18. Adam Ryland-Davis, 19:01
- 19. Mason Roush, 19:02
- 21. Nicholas Pida, 19:10
- 25. Roy Rindal, 19:22
- 74. Taylor Parisot, 21:13
- 75. Evan Stefaniak, 21:13
- 92. Spencer Jackson, 21:47
- 125. Foster Smith, 23:24
Up next for the Bengals is the Bozeman Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 14 at Bridger Creek Golf Course. This meet will feature 10 AA teams, including Bozeman’s varsity, Hellgate, Great Falls and CMR, who we haven’t yet raced this season.
Helena High Cross Country 