Youth leads the way for Lady Pirates
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KALLISPELL — Youth and inexperience is usually not a good recipe for success, but don’t tell that to the Polson Lady Pirate cross country team.
With a team comprised of a lone senior, two juniors and four freshmen runners, the Lady Pirates came away with a third-place finish at the Flathead Invitational meet Saturday.
Youth was no setback for Polson as four of their top five runners at the meet were running in what head coach Matt Seeley called their first real varsity race.
“It’s pretty incredible to have four freshmen in our top five, and it sure looks great for the future of Polson cross country,” Seeley said.
Freshman phenom Aja Starkey led the way for the Lady Pirates as she finished second with a time of 18:59. Caught in a duel with Hellgate’s Paige Gilchrist ahead of the field, Starkey pushed Gilchrist for the entire length of the race as the two finished well ahead of the rest of the field.
It was another freshman coming in second for the Lady Pirates as Claudia Hewston finished 11th with a time of 20:53. It was a great accomplishment for Hewston, who is a newcomer to the sport of cross country running.
“Claudia is very new to distance running,” Seeley said. “She trained hard this summer and runs with exceptional toughness and heart. It will be great to watch her compete and improve all year.”
Senior runner Mesa Starkey had to overcome a late arrival at the race and had almost no time to warm up before the start. It didn’t bother her much, though, as she was the Lady Pirates third-best runner with a time of 21:14 that earned her 19th place.
It was a pair of freshmen finishing out the top five performances for the Polson girls, as Tegan Bauer finished 34th with a time of 22:20 while Alisha Jore was 53rd with a time of 23:46.
Junior Mariah Hamel finished 61st overall for the Lady Pirates with a time of 24:02 while fellow junior Laura Barta was 72nd with a time of 25:02.
It was a different story on the boys’ side of things for Polson as injuries and a few subpar performances left the Pirates at the bottom of the team standings.
Jimmy Bjorge turned in a fast second half of the race to be Polson’s top male runner as he finished 29th with a time of 18:07. Alex Nystrom also had a quick second half and finished 34th overall with a time of 18:12.
Tel Motichka had what coach Seeley called “another strong varsity run,” finishing 69th overall with a time of 20:08.
Nick Andrews was 74th with a time of 20:48, Reed Hovenkotter was 76th with a time of 21:09 and Jacob Young finished 78th overall for the Pirates with a time of 21:47.
“The boys got a real taste of the speed of some of those AA varsity runners and should be very motivated to work hard and improve as the season progresses,” Seeley said.
Both teams will face a real challenge Saturday as they travel to Missoula to run in the Mountain West Classic against class A schools from across the state.
