The plundering pirates and the course of doom
Lady Pirates grab top 3 spots, boys take first at Polson Pirate Duels
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POLSON — There are typical cross country races, and then there are the Pirate Duels.
Runners had to face a course riddled with obstacles Saturday as the Polson course featured hay-bale hurdles, a sawdust pile, a horse chute and a near-vertical wall of dirt.
It was another record-setting day for the Polson Lady Pirate cross country runners Saturday, despite the obstacles, as all seven varsity members who ran at the Pirate Duels set new season-best times.
Freshman Claudia Hewston picked up her first top finish of the season to lead the way for the Lady Pirates, who swept the top three places as Mesa Starkey finished second and Tegan Bauer came in third.
“We are really hoping that things are falling into place for us,” Polson coach Matt Seeley said. “I feel really great about the way we are running right now.”
Hewston’s time of 19:02 was seven seconds faster than her previous personal best, Starkey ran a 19:37 to beat her season-best by 30 seconds and Bauer’s 20:23 was seven seconds faster than her previous personal best.
While no other team had enough runners at the meet to field a full team, the Lady Pirates team score of 19 was still an impressive feat as no Polson runner finished lower than ninth.
Whitney Zimmerman beat her previous personal record by 29 seconds as she finished sixth with a time of 22:09. Hallie Hovenkotter’s time of 22:19 was 1:02 faster than her previous record and good enough to earn her a seventh-place finish. Mariah Hamel turned in a 22:41 to beat her previous record by 35 seconds and finished eighth and Laura Barta ran a 23:08 to beat her season best by 56 seconds. Barta finished ninth.
The Lady Pirates were once again without their top runner of the season, Aja Starkey, who continues to nurse a foot problem and Alisha Jore who is battling a calf injury.
“We should have them both coming back for the conference race in Libby this weekend,” Seeley said. “If we get everyone back running, I feel really good about what we could accomplish. I think we have an outside chance of taking down Whitefish.”
Travis Hayes picked up his best finish of the season for the boys Saturday as he finished second with a time of 17:38 to lead the Pirates.
“Travis is looking extremely strong now and might be an outside threat to challenge for the conference championship next Saturday,” Seeley said.
Teammates Alex Nystrom and Jimmy Bjorge were right behind Hayes, taking third and fourth respectively as the trio stayed together as a pack the entire race. Nystrom finished with a time of 17:39 and Bjorge ran a 17:41.
“It was a technique of running together that works well for them,” Seeley said. “They all run at nearly the same pace but I still want them to push themselves.”
Tel Motichka set a new personal record with a time of 19:08 to finish eighth for the Pirates, Mike Bournstein finished ninth with a time of 19:14, Reed Hovenkotter ran a 19:22 to finish 12th and Cash Sisler beat his previous personal best by 1:29 to finish 13th with a time of 19:28.
Both squads will be in action at Libby Saturday as they race for the Class A Northwest Championship.
