Ivy Kyle Claims Title to Guide JV Girls to 2nd; JV Boys 3rd
Most of the top cross country runners in Montana convened at Helena’s Bill Roberts Golf Course on Thursday for the 20th Capital City 7 of 7, and the Helena High Bengals took advantage of running on their home course for the first time this season with some memorable efforts.
The meet uses a unique format, where seven competitors from each school are broken down based on how they rank on their respective teams – No. 1s vs. No. 1s and so on – and all seven runners count toward the team score with a perfect score (seven victories) adding up to a total of seven.
The Helena varsity boys defended their title and home turf in a team battle that came down to the final race, and after sophomore Foster Warner opened the upset bid with a win in the No. 7 race, junior Milo Kauffman sealed the victory with a strong second-place finish in the No. 1 race. All seven boys placed 3rd or better in their respective races.
In varsity girls competition, despite posting their second-lowest score in meet history, the Bengals finished fourth (29 points), just 6 points out of second in a tightly packed competition that saw Bozeman (19), Gallatin (23), and Glacier (25) claim the top three spots. Helena’s girls raced strong in all seven races with every runner finishing 6th or better. The only time the Bengals scored fewer than 29 points was the 18 they chalked up in 2020 when the race featured just 8 teams because of COVID. This year, the race featured 49 teams.
More on the varsity races later.
Standard scoring is used in JV competition, and the Helena girls got a huge lift from freshman Ivy Kyle who steadily moved to the front of the field and collected the victory in the de facto JV state meet as all 16 AA schools were present for the final time this season. Not only that, but Kyle shaved a whopping 28 seconds off her prior best to finish in 20:24 – six seconds clear of runner-up Colette Bucklin from North Toole County.
Kyle’s effort set the pace for a runner-up finish for the Bengals, who posted 53 points, just 16 behind winner Bozeman. Helena also had junior Elizabeth Coburn and freshman Mary Guzynski run personal bests in 6th and 8th place with times of 20:55 and 21:23, respectively. Sophomore Harper Johnson placed 17th in 22:01 and sophomore Alexa Pipinich was 27th in 22:13 to round out the team’s scoring. Freshman Sadie Murray ran a PR in 37th (22:45) and junior Aven Baker placed 61st (23:35) as Helena’s 6th and 7th runners.
There were many more highlights for the JV girls, including a bunch more personal and season records: sophomore Myle Dahlke (PR 23:46), junior Kumari Leland (SR 23:48), senior Emma Flinders (PR 24:00), sophomore Evelyn Harris (PR 25:25), freshman Iris McClain (PR 26:23), junior Kelia Gomes (SR 26:24), freshman Ellie Runnion (PR 27:35), junior Astoria Holzer (PR 27:40), and senior Anyah Douglas (SR 29:44). Junior Elsie Munson (29:11) and sophomore Jillian Oliver (29:40), meanwhile, completed their first races for the Bengals.
In JV boys competition, sophomore Ander Svingen led the way in 10th place with a time of 17:44 as the Bengals ran to third in the team standings with 116 points – trailing Bozeman (34) and Hellgate (105).
Also showing up in the Bengals scoring were senior Henry Sweeney (16th, SR 18:06), freshman Milo Sealey (27th, PR 18:35), sophomore Graham Coleman (30th, PR 18:39), and sophomore Apollo Althoff (33rd, PR 18:45). Running in the No. 6 and 7 spots for Helena were sophomore Ravin Bury (55th, 19:10) and junior Cole Harris (82nd, 19:38).
Like the girls, Helena’s JV boys had several additional athletes run season or personal records: freshman Trystan Hill (PR 19:42), sophomore Grayson Trum (PR 20:45), freshman Reiter McVie (PR 21:35), sophomore Kingston Downing (SR 22:19), sophomore Spruce Bacon (PR 22:22), junior Henry Coy (SR 22:30), junior Micah Langdji (PR 22:31), freshman Ben Cupino (PR 22:54), sophomore Emmett Morrison (PR 23:30), freshman Gabriel Waits (PR 24:12), and freshman Tim Wilkins (PR 25:00).
Back to the varsity races.
As noted earlier, Warner got the Bengals off to the perfect start with a personal best of 17:11 to win the No. 7 race, which allowed them to take advantage of anything less than the best from their competition. While Bozeman was dominant in the No. 1-6 races, they finished 16th in the No. 7 race, which both Helena and Hellgate (3rd in the No. 7 race) took advantage of.
In the No. 6 race, Helena junior Joel Melton placed third in 17:18 behind runners from Bozeman and Hellgate in that order. In the No. 5 race, it again went Bozeman-Hellgate-Helena with Bengal senior Ed Coleman running 17:21 in third. Next up were the teams’ No. 4 runners, and this time, freshman Emory Kreissler placed second for the Bengals behind a Bozeman runner, and Hellgate’s harrier was fourth. The three teams returned to a familiar Bozeman-Hellgate-Helena routine in the No. 3 race with senior Dylan Hill running a season best 16:34 in third. And in the No. 2 race, it was again Bozeman-Hellgate-Helena with senior Garrett Hinderman this time placing third in 16:16.
What did that all mean with one final race remaining to settle the score? Helena and Hellgate entered the final race tied at 15 points, and Bozeman – the prerace favorite – trailed in third with 21. That meant Kauffman needed to beat Hellgate’s runner and finish within six places of Bozeman’s runner.
A confident Kauffman left no doubt and ran to second place in 15:39 to seal the victory for the Bengals, putting a stamp on an impressive day for the boys.
In girls action, the Bengals entered the meet knowing Bozeman was the favorite to win and that it would be a close competition with their rivals from Gallatin and Glacier – with those three teams separated by an estimated nine points on paper. And when the final scores were tallied, it finished even closer – six points separating second through fourth and just 10 separating the top four teams.
Senior Emily Davidson earned a shot in the No. 7 race after an impressive showing in Great Falls a week prior, and she didn’t disappoint with a gutsy performance from start to finish as she placed fourth in a season best of 21:03 – just 4 seconds off her PR. Senior Cooper Judd, might have pulled the biggest surprise with a massive effort in the No. 6 race, placing third by shaving 29 seconds off her lifetime best. Next up was junior Emmie Bermingham in the No. 5 race, and she too placed third and ran a personal best (20:41) to help build some space between the Bengals and the Glacier Wolfpack, which was needed knowing the team from up north had two of the state’s top three runners lining up in the top two races.
Junior Mary Clement was next up for the Bengals and like her teammates ran an exceptional race as the No. 4 runner, finishing just a tenth of a second shy of her personal best in sixth with a time of 20:29. In the No. 3 competition, senior Kate Lee moved up several places late in the race to finish third in 19:54 and edge Glacier’s Dacia Benkleman.
Going into the final two races, the scores were Gallatin 6, Bozeman 15, Helena 18, and Glacier 21.
The No. 2 race witnessed Glacier freshman Ada Thiel hold court with the victory, while Bozeman’s Kylie Neil placed second, Helena junior Isabel Ward finished fifth with a big final kick to get two late passes and earn a time of 20:00, and Gallatin’s Finley Samuels placed 12th.
With one race left, Bozeman led with 17, Gallatin slipped to second with 18, Glacier moved up to third with 22, and Helena was fourth with 23.
And despite a valiant effort from Helena junior Kortney McKay who ran an excellent second half of the race to pick off competitors to her left and right, she finished an impressive sixth place as the Bengals finished fourth with 29 points. McKay crossed the line in 19:18 to post the top time for the Bengals.
Billings Central freshman Addie Kegel continued her season-long dominance with the win in 17:17, Bozeman’s Phoebe Maixner was second to lock up the victory for Bozeman (19), Glacier’s Lauren Bisson placed third to secure third for the Wolfpack (25), and Gallatin’s Lila Pritham finished fifth to help her team claim second with 23 points.
Next up for Helena is a return to Bill Roberts Golf Course on Wednesday, Oct. 15 in a Crosstown meet that will also feature competitors from Jefferson and Townsend.
Helena High Cross Country 