MONTANA STATE MEET

Nathan Neil Rolls To 14:45 Victory; Great Falls Upsets Bozeman, Wins First XC Title Since 1979

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Bozeman standout Nathan Neil broke the all-time Montana state meet record Saturday at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell, running 14:45.47. 

The Washington commit, one of the top runners in the country this fall, won the AA final by 42 seconds. 

But it's hard to imagine Neil, or anyone else, could have predicted that Great Falls would rise up and win the boys team championship. 

The Bison scored 68 points to beat Bozeman, winner of 13 of the past 15 state meets. 

At the recent Capital 7 on 7, Bozeman won every flight. At the Mountain West Classic, back on Sept. 23, Bozeman beat Great Falls by more than 100 points. 

Ryan Harrington finished second, John Spinti was fourth and Ashtyn Rask was eighth as Great Falls won for the first time in 44 years. 

Missoula Hellgate held onto the girls AA title with 46 points, beating Gallatin (54) and Bozeman (80). 

Junior Claire Rutherford of Gallatin won her second straight individual title in 18:06.58. Freshmen Lauren Bissen of Glacier and Kylee Neil were separated by a tenth of a second in the fight for second (18:13.88 to 18:13.98).

The Hardin girls put three in the top five of the Class A final and finished with 37 points for the second straight year. Freshman Karis Brightwings-Pease ran 18:38.51 to win the race for the second straight year.

Brightwings-Pease ran away from Rutherford, Bissen and Neil at the Capital 7 on 7 meet. 

Browning won the Class A boys title with Preston Iron Heart and Jerdan Crawford placing eighth and ninth. 

Sophomore Finn Schretenthaler won the Class A race in 15:27.78. 

Manhattan edged Glasgow, 93 to 103, to win the Class B girls team title. Glasgow junior Tanae Baker won the race by 50 seconds in 19:03.06. 

Jefferson won the boys B crown with 79 points, with Luke Mest taking second behind Wolf Point's Peyton Summers (15:48.62).

The Class C final, in which only a team's top three runners scored, was a mess. Two points separated the top four teams in the boys race as Manhattan Christian and Drummond both scored 33 points. Manhattan Christian won the tiebreaker. Two Eagle River was third with 34 points and Powder River County, which had the fastest fourth and fifth runners, was fourth with 35. 

Manhattan Christian's Oren Arthun won the race for the third time in 15:55.29.

The girls C race also produced a tie, with Roberts and Scobey both scoring 27 points. Roberts put four inside Scobey's third finisher and won the title. Shelbi LaBrie of Whitewater won the race in 19:52.42.

Team Champions

Class AA - Great Falls boys 68 points, Hellgate girls 46 points - RESULTS

Class A - Browning boys 96 points, Hardin girls 37 points - RESULTS

Class B - Jefferson boys 79 points, Manhattan 93 points - RESULTS

Class C - Manhattan Christian boys 33 points (tiebreaker), Roberts girls 27 points (scoring three/tiebreaker) - RESULTS