This week, Hellgate Cross Country’s varsity and junior varsity parted ways for not one but two cross country meets. Both competitions featured talented performances from runners, making the future of the teams’ season look promising.
On Friday, HKXC’s JV team made the trip to Butte for the annual Butte Invitational. The meet featured 32 teams from all across Montana and one team from Spokane, Washington. Conditions were windy at 25 miles per hour with gusts as high as 40 mph, making the Highland Golf Course’s multiple straightaways a challenge for athletes.
On the girls side, Sophomore Finley Haveron led the team, setting a personal record of 22:10 and finishing sixth overall. freshman Rasa Smith and sophomore Evie Belsom also finished in the 22 minute range, with freshman Willa Brookwalter and senior Mia Lewis finishing out the top five and securing the second place spot for the team.
For the boys, the story was similar. Sophomore Jasper Alviar set a PR of 18:03, and hotshot freshman duo Charlie Gruber and Tommy Johnstone finished together with a time of 18:36. Gruber and Johnstone have raced together all season, consistently dropping time week to week. They’ll be a duo to watch on the JV side of things as HKXC moves into the late season. The boys finished out the meet in third place.
After the meet, as has been the tradition for many years, head coach Anders Brooker purchased 70 of Butte’s famous pork chop sandwiches for athletes to enjoy. The order was placed days in advance from the historic Freeway Tavern.
Hellgate’s varsity team made an exciting trip South to Irvine, California. The top seven boys and top eight girls were fortunate enough to compete in the 43rd annual Woodbridge Classic, a nationally known cross country meet where some of the country’s fastest high school athletes race for three miles as opposed to the standard 3.11.
The varsity girls had a strong performance, with junior Gia Petrini and seniors Kintla Thomas and Jamison Molloy all running sub-18 minute times. Freshman Madison Inabnit and junior Sabine Glaser both had breakout races, scoring the points necessary to get an 11th place finish in their heat.
The Varsity boys were a similar story of success. All seven runners finished with times under the 16 minute mark, which was their goal coming into the meet. Senior Ridley Key led the team with a blazing 15:19, closely followed up by senior Oscar Valliant with a 15:26. Both Key and Valliant said they set their personal two-mile bests within the three mile race. Sophomore Miles Miller took the number three spot for the boys and seniors Jack Baumes and Eamon Fitzgerald finished together earning the boys a third place finish for their heat with only a ten point difference between them and first place.
Glaser, the number-five runner on the varsity girls team, said that competing in California let the team “celebrate our sport in a way that doesn’t come across in Montana. It was really incredible to get to be a part of that.” The team was one of only two Montana teams in attendance, the other being Bozeman. “We weren’t only representing our school and team but also our state. And we beat Bozeman, by the way,” added Glaser.
Both the JV and varsity teams were heartened by their respective meets. With Mountain West, the biggest home meet and the halfway marker of the season just around the corner, both the athletes and coaching staff of HKXC are hopeful and confident for their future performances. Mountain West takes place on Saturday, Sept. 28, at the University of Montana golf course, and Hellgate Cross Country should put on a strong showing.
