MONTANA STATE MEET

Bozeman Boys Regain Title While Girls Suffer Rare Defeat At Montana State Meet; Brown, Neal 1-2 For Hawks; Rutherford, Ross 1-2 For Gallatin

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

A 1-2 helped return the Bozeman boys to the top of the podium at Montana's Class AA cross country finals in Missoula on Saturday. 

Senior Weston Brown (15:25.0) and junior Nathan Neil (15:32.8) ran out in front of the boys pack and finished first and second for the Hawks, who won their 13th state title in 15 years. KJ Popiel gave Bozeman a third top-10 finsher by placing ninth. Hellgate edged Sentinel for second place, 91 to 92.

In the girls final, Hellgate dealt Bozeman a rare team loss at the state meet while two runners from the new school in Bozeman, Gallatin High, finished first and second. 

Sophomores Claire Rutherford (18:31.0) and Isabel Ross (18:57.7) were the only two girls in the meet to run the 5,000-meter layout at the University of Montana Golf Course in less than 19 minutes. They helped Gallatin take third as a team with 70 points. 

Hellgate beat Bozeman 54 to 68 on the strength of a 28-second spread on five scorers who placed between seventh and 15th. 

Bozeman, which won 14 of the previous 15 state championships, was second with 68 points and the Hawks were led by the fourth-place finish of Natalie Nicholas. 

The Hardin girls swept the top three spots on the way to a victory in the Class A final wiht 37 points. Eighth grader Karis Brightwings-Pease ran 19:01.8 to win the race and her teammates backed her up, with Mariah Aragon running to second in 19:35.3 and Ellyse Moccasin third in 19:42.4. Brightwings-Pease won all four of her races in October, including a win over Rutherford at the Capital 7 on 7 meet. 

The Park boys of Livingston won the Class A title with 78 points, edging runner-up Whitefish by 12 points. Caleb Tomac and Charlie Serafin went 5-6 for Park, which put all five scorers in the top 22. 

Freshman Gresyon Piseno from Billings Central Catholic won the A final in 16:16.3, ahead of eighth grader Ben Bird from Hardin (16:24.1). 

At the Class B level, St. Ignatius duo Andrew Rush (16:15.6) and Robbie Nuila (16:34.5) went 1-2 to lead the Bulldogs to a state title with 63 points. Three Forks was second with 112. 

Senior Renae Parker from Jefferson ran 19:13.2 to win the girls race. Another senior, Natalie Wood from Sweet Grass County, was second in 19:23.6. Columbus put three in the top 13 on the way to a team victory over Manhattan, 91-96. 

Junior Owen Arthun won his second straight Class C title and Manhattan Christian scored a perfect six points, going 1-2-3 (scoring just three). Arthun's winining time was 16:52.8, almost identical to what he ran in 2021. Shaphan Hubner was 25 seconds back in second and Nathan Adams was another five seconds back for third.

The Manhattan Christian girls also repeated and scored 37 points to beat Culbertson (50). 47-69. Senior Annie Kaul from Plentywood edged out Manhattan Christian's Jadyn Van Dyken, 19:10.4 to 19:11.1.

Team Champions

Class AA - Bozeman boys 60 points, Hellgate girls 54 points - RESULTS

Class A - Park boys 78 points, Hardin girls 37 points - RESULTS

Class B - St Ingatius boys 63 points, Columbus 91 points - RESULTS

Class C - Manhattan Christian boys 6 points, Manhattan Christian girls 37 points (scoring three) - RESULTS