by Scott Sacry
The cross country teams from Corvallis, Darby, Florence, Hamilton, and Stevensville competed in the Mountain West Classic in Missoula on Saturday, Sept. 23rd at the University Golf Course. This was a massive meet with over 80 schools, including schools from Montana, Idaho and Washington. In the varsity boys race alone there were 456 runners. So it’s fair to say this is the best competition the valley schools will face this year.
Individually for the boys, Florence’s Kyler Harris was the Bitterroot Valley’s highest finisher in 28th place (16:26). He just edged out Hamilton’s Taylor Doleac, who finished in 29th (16:27). Darby’s top finisher was Ben Martin in 91st (17:20). Corvallis’s top finisher was Jack Davidson in 92nd (17:21). Erik Potter was Stevensville’s highest finisher in 244th (19:00).
There were 371 varsity girl runners. Hamilton freshman Aleigha Child was the Valley’s highest finisher in 17th place (19:38). Corvallis’s Laurie Davidson finished in 30th (19:58). Darby’s Lily Adair finished in 42nd (20:16). Corvallis’s Violet Jessop finished 58th (20:41). Cecilia Franchi was Stevensville’s highest finisher at 189th (22:41).
The Corvallis girls’ team finished 12th overall, while the Hamilton girls finished 19th. The Corvallis boys’ team finished 24th, the Hamilton boys finished in 38th, and the Stevensville boys took 55th.