Ronan cross-country, next stop – State
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Ronan – The weather couldn’t have been any better Friday with kids from 6B and 7B conference competing on the Mission Mountain Golf Course with goals of Conference Titles.
Coach Noelle Decker is happy with the results of the Conference Championship but also happy to see the kids come along and grow both as a team and as individuals, especially her top three senior girls Kiana Howell, Jade Gray, and Angela North Piegan.
“These girls are consistently in the top three together,” she said. “They’ve got goals and are working towards those, they’re great leaders.”
Placing top 10 is how to achieve an All Conference title and Howell did just that, coming in at nine with a time of 21:19. Howell led her Maiden team to a third place finish overall. Gray (22:12) and Piegan (22:14) didn’t quite crack the top 10 to earn All Conference but both placed top 20 – 14th and 19th respectively.
Though the boys weren’t able to produce an All Conference runner, they did have two in the top 20 with a team place of fourth. Freshman Jackson Duffey finished in eighth with a time of 18:07 and Daniel Koehler. Decker sees great things for these guys as they have been “pretty consistent” all season. “These freshman have been in the top six runners,” Decker said. Senior Chiefs JT Probst, Rhett Duffey, and Jarred Dupuis have left a leadership impression on Decker. “They’re great kids,” she said. “Positive all the time.”
With State just around the bend, Decker is really focusing on a little rest time for her athletes but also says they have to “keep moving forward.” Decker is optimistic that it will be a good meet and has hopes of Howell “sneaking in an All State.”
“It’s always nice to be in Missoula, the kids like that course,” she said. “We’re not going to change too much, we’ll see what happens.”
The Chiefs and Maiden will meet with the rest of the teams around Montana for the State Championship run at the University of Montana Golf Course, Oct. 26. Class B is scheduled to run later in the day with the boys start time of 1:10pm and the girls at 2:10.
