The Valley Journal

Jim Blow/Valley Journal
Polson freshman Jimmy Bjorge, heading for home at the Mountain West Classic, had a personal-best race at Hamilton last Saturday, clocking a time of 17 minutes, 41 seconds over the three-mile course at Daly Mansion.

By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
HAMILTON — It's that time of the cross country season where you expect the cream to begin rising to the top and Polson's team did just that last Saturday.
The Polson squad won the boys' team title and the girls' finished second, with 11 of the 26 Pirate runners posting season-best times.
"It was a great day in Hamilton for the Polson Pirate cross country teams," Polson head coach Matt Seeley said.
The senior tandem of Colter Bull and Miles Bieber powered through the course in just over 17 minutes. But this week it was Bieber taking the honors at the finish line to place fifth overall in 17:02, while Bull was just a second back in sixth at 17:03.
"I was really proud of how Miles and Colter pushed each other and stayed very focused for the entire race," Seeley said.
Freshman Jimmy Bjorge (17:41) broke under 18 minutes for the first time to finish 10th overall in Polson's number three spot. Alex Nystrom wasn't far back at 17:54 to place 14th.
The clincher for Polson's dominating team score, however, was Nick Andrews as the fifth man with a lifetime best race to finish in 18:28.
"Jimmy keeps finding a way to run harder and Nick is finally enjoying some consistent fitness and speed," coach Seeley noted. "Scott Taylor (18:42) also made his varsity debut and really pushed the other guys with a fast start and gutsy finish."

In the JV race, Travis Bowman once again led the way for Polson with another great run at 19:24 and Jordan Cross started fast and shattered his personal best with a 20:04. The biggest improver of the week was Max McClain who dropped nearly two minutes off his time to finish at 21:06.
Mesa Starkey once again led the Polson girls, clocking a fast 19:39 to place fifth. Teammates Sierra Pete and Karissa Koberg weren't far back. Pete finished 12th in 21:29 and Koberg was 14th in 21:33.
"Karissa caught Sierra in the last half-mile and really pushed her all the way to the line," coach Seeley noted.
Surprisingly, the fourth and fifth fastest times for Polson both came out of the junior varsity race. Freshman Whitney Zimmerman (22:21) had another flying finish to drop more than a minute off her time and Chelsey Cree (22:24) led the team for most of the race and held on for a very fast time and big improvement.
"It is great to see these young girls racing hard and really pushing some of our veteran runners," Seeley said, adding, "The JV girls team won their portion of the meet, as well."
The Polson runners will host their own unique Pirate Duels this Saturday at the Polson Fairgrounds, starting at noon: 12 p.m. - Middle School girls/boys; 12:25 - JV boys race; 12:55 - JV girls race; 1:30 - varsity #6/7 girls and boys; 2 - varsity #4/5 girls and boys; and 2:30 - varsity #1/2/3 girls and boys.
An open race will also be held at 3 p.m. over the same three-mile course for parents, coaches and all community members. Awards will follow at 3:30.
During the following week on Friday, Oct. 16, the Pirates will compete in the Northwestern A Conference championships at Pablo's Silver Fox golf course. The final meet of the season will be the Montana state championships at the University of Montana golf course on Saturday, Oct. 24.