Paden paces Mission at Hamilton
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HAMILTON — Another cross country meet, meant another week of Paden Alexander and Ashley Courville leading the charge for the Mission harriers.
At the Hamilton Invitational Saturday, Alexander came in 12th with a time of 17:41 and Ashley Courville came in 13th with a time of 21:29.
Even though he was battling a cold, it was Alexander’s second straight week that he broke the 18-minute mark.
Courville’s time was just a second slower than the personal-record and school-record she set at the Ronan Invitational the past Saturday, but Mission coach Patrick Murphy was hoping for more.
“She’s been consistent; now we just need for her to get her breakthrough race,” Murphy said.
Saturday was bittersweet for Rose Bear Don’t Walk. After finishing 24th with a personal best time of 23:03, she injured her foot at the Mission volleyball game and has to use crutches to walk.
The good news for the Lady Bulldogs Saturday, was that Jane Makepeace is healthy. After sitting out the past couple of weeks with a sore hip, Makepeace finished 31st with a personal-best time of 23:31, which was almost a minute quicker than her previous PR.
“She had a really good race, and her hip didn’t hurt, so that was the icing on the cake,” Murphy said.
Brian Schock finished 36th with a time of 18:51, not a PR, but a pretty solid time, Murphy said. Rune Grumsen did have a PR coming in 53rd with a time of 21.24. Carl Daniels also had a PR, finishing 55th with a time of 23:03.
Both the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs didn’t have enough runners to qualify for the team score.
The Mission cross country team will compete in Polson Saturday. It will be their second-to-last meet before the state meet in Helena. While the Mission team has had plenty of great individual performance, Murphy said he is still waiting for a great team effort.
“Every one has performed to their potential, but the PRs have been scattered. Now, we are looking for one race where everybody performs at the level they can perform at,” Murphy said.
