Mission runners do well in team’s first state cross country appearance
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HELENA — The Mission Bulldogs closed out their inaugural cross country season with a strong showing at the state meet on the grounds of the Bill Roberts Golf Course Saturday.
Paden Alexander led the way for the boys team, coming in 10th individually as the Bulldogs earned a 14th-place finish.
“Paden really put in a whole lot of hard work this year. It was great to be there to see all of his efforts pay off,” Mission head coach Patrick Murphy said.
Alexander turned in a time of 17:29 to earn 10th place.
Bryan Schock was the next best runner for the Bulldogs, coming in 64th with a time of 19:43. Mauro Grosso turned in a time of 20:41 to come in 95th, Rune Grumsen was 111th at 21:22, Jarred Smith-Brown came in 118th with a time of 21:32, Dakota Matt was 129th at 22:30 and Karl Daniels finished 148th with a time of 25:28.
Mission’s girls did not qualify for the team trophies at the race as the Bulldogs had just three runners but Ashley Courville ran a good race to finish 17th with a time of 21:05. LaGlen Mitchell was 80th with a time of 23:45 and Jane Makepeace was 92nd at 24:12.
“I was very happy with how our top runners ran at state,” Murphy said. “It was quite a performance… probably what every program is shooting for in its first season. We didn’t really know what to expect in Helena with this being our first year and all.”
The Bulldogs are looking forward to what they hope will be an even bigger year next season as the teams will be losing only one senior each.
“This good finish this year leaves us with an exceptional starting point for next year. I hope it will motivate our kids to get out and start running during the off season,” Murphy said. “Next year should be even bigger for us. The kids that ran this year have laid a great foundation… to do even better as we move on. I think our kids really have what it takes to build this program.”
