The Bengals had an outstanding day under blue skies at the Flathead Invitational on Saturday, as the boys and girls placed third and fifth, respectively, in a meet that featured runners from more than 40 teams including 12 of the 16 AA programs.
On top of that, the junior varsity and freshmen teams demonstrated team depth with equally impressive results on the course that will host the state meet on October 21. The girls JV and freshmen both picked up victories, while the JV boys were second and the freshmen boys placed seventh.
In the varsity division, junior Henry Sund posted a monster personal best 16:09 to place fifth, while sophomore Dylan Hill, freshman Milo Kauffman, and junior Elliot Stimpson kept the finish line busy in 16th, 17th, and 18th – all with personal bests of 16:30, 16:32, 16:34, respectively. Junior Jake Matthews rounded out the scoring for the boys in 37th (17:11), while senior Trey Schlepp and sophomore Eli Highness weren’t far behind in 17:39 and 17:58. Impressively, the boys posted a strong 1-5 spread of 1:02, demonstrating excellent pack running.
Bozeman won the boys title with 37 points, followed by Great Falls with 63 and Helena with 93, more than 50 points clear of fourth-place Sentinel.
In the girls varsity race, senior Bria Plant shaved 11 seconds off her lifetime best to finish 23rd in 20:49, while junior Solveig Mohr was 31st in 21:11, senior Sofia Hinderman placed 33rd in a lifetime best 21:16, junior Hadyn Garza ran 21:46 in 45th, and sophomore Kate Lee capped the scoring in 53rd with a time of 22:01. Also running varsity for the Bengals were juniors Margaret McDonald (58th, 22:26) and Margot Muszkiewicz (84th, 23:08). The Bengal girls led all teams with a 1:12 spread from the first to the fifth runner.
Bozeman won the girls division with 67 points, followed by Gallatin (88), Hellgate (109), Flathead (168) and Helena (185).
In the JV division, both the boys and girls placed three in the top 11 with junior Chris Jenemann (6th), senior Ian Rasmann (10th), and sophomore Garrett Hinderman (11th) pacing the boys, while sophomore Gabbi Lavoie (ninth), junior Mia Carrell (10th), and sophomore Emily Davidson (11th) led the way for the girls.
In the freshman division, Ellie Coburn (second) and Mary Clement (sixth) ran big personal bests of 23:24 and 23:45 to lead the girls, while Joel Melton and Daniel Williams established PRs of 18:32 and 19:02 in ninth and 12th to spearhead the boys.
The Bengals will be back in action at the Bozeman Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 9.
Helena High Cross Country 