Morley two-time champ for 7 on 7 meet

Bigfork High School sophomore Makena Morley became the two-time champion of the Helena 7 on 7 cross country meet on Saturday with a time of 16:50.5, a full 15 seconds faster than her winning score from last year.

The way the 7 on 7 meet works is each team can have up to seven boys and seven girls compete, with one boy and one girl in each race. This gives the seventh runner an opportunity to get first place while also having boys and girls run side-by-side, competing as individuals while also scoring points for their team.

“The fun race to watch was Makena and Logan (Morley) run against each other, they battled it out through the whole race and it was pretty cool to watch,” coach Sue Loeffler said. “What was cool for Makena is she finally has somebody to run with. Usually, she is leading with all the girls’ races and is by herself, whereas with the 7 on 7 has boys there.”

Had Makena ran against just the girls this would have been the case, as the next fastest girl at the meet finished about 35 seconds behind her. But, with boys on the track she wasn’t too far behind her brother, Logan, who finished 23rd in the boys division with 16:48.8.

In Race 2, Carson Cantrell placed 20th for boys with 17:14.2 and Chelsea Olson placed 13th for girls with 20:25.9.

Loeffler said this was the first time a lot of Bigfork’s runners were up against varsity, but each of them handled the stiff competition well, despite this meet being their first one in chilly weather. Loeffler said temperatures were in the lower 40s throughout the day.

George Gibson placed 28th in Race 3 with 18:49.7 and Chance Kittle finished Race 5 with 19:24.4. Also in Race 5 was Ellessa Henion with 23:17.3.

Craig Cheroske placed 25th in Race 6 with 19:45.9 and Emily Pataky finished with 25:20.7.

Cody Johnson placed 27th in Race 7 with 20:04.3 and Sarah Abbott had 27:19.3.

“He (Johnson) has improved his times incredibly from the first race to now,” Loeffler said. “He ran 20:04 and when he started he was running 23 in Cutbank, so he has improved three minutes.”

Because this meet was held on the Bill Roberts Golf Course, the team got a chance to preview the course they will run for the state competition on Oct. 20. Until then they will be practicing hard in preparation for this week’s meet in Ronan.

“I just think they all performed well and we’re right on track for state,” Loeffler said. “They’re getting themselves ready mentally and physically.”