The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The All Sate Cross Country meet was held in Kalispell this past Saturday featuring the top runners from all four classes on the same course.

The meet began with the class C schools running first followed by the class B schools. The Harlem Wildcats and Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbirds represented their schools and Blaine County very well at the state meet.

The Hays/Lodge Pole boys finished fifth overall as a team, led by the efforts of Junior standout Isaiah RunsAbove. RunsAbove finished second overall in the class C boys with a time of 16:29.05.

The Harlem Wildcats received an outstanding performance from freshman sensation L'Tia Lawrence on the girls side of the ledger. Lawrence was outstanding finishing fourth in her first competition at the state meet crossing the Finish Line in 19:37.31.

Lawrence has had a fantastic season for the Wildcats running very well from start to finish. Lawrence's success didn't come by accident as she has put in plenty of work to reach the pinnacle of her sport "It was a bit of a surprise I did so well but I work hard everyday to get better," said Lawrence. "I know this is only my freshman year and to do so well at state motivates me to work hard everyday to get better so that I can do better the next three years," added Lawrence.

The talented freshman had goals since the very beginning and nearly met all of them, "My goal at the start was to break 18 minutes and finish top 10 at state," said Lawrence.

'It (running) keeps me in shape but relaxes me. It's peaceful and I really enjoy it I ran cross-country in 6th grade but played basketball in the 7th and 8th grade. Basketball is my favorite sport," concluded Lawrence.

RunsAbove was at the top of his game all season long as he entered the state meet having won every competition thus far, "The whole year has been really fun. I knew going into State undefeated was what I wanted to do. I knew I had to take on a state champion, now a two-time state champion, but it was really fun and I look forward to doing even better next year," commented RunsAbove.

Courtesy Photo

The Harlem Wildcat boys cross country team. Far left: Harlem freshman L'Tia Lawrence shined during her first competition at the State meet finishing fourth to earn All-State honors and bring a medal back home.

The Thunderbirds boys team that finished fifth at State also included freshman Gilbert Snow, senior Tough Snow and sophomore Drew Shortman.

The Thunderbirds also brought four girls to the state meet and they perform very well junior Dianna Snow, junior Darrelyn Blackwolf, senior Maxine plainfeather and sophomore Bailey Hercule making up the roster.

The Harlem girls also received a strong performance from senior Valerie TalksDifferent who finished the course in a time of 20:43.96. Junior Kailee Horn and freshman Kaylee Henry and freshman Alex Kirkaldie rounded out the girls team for the Wildcats.

The Harlem boys were led by senior Erin Snow who crossed the finish line and 19:11.30. Sophomore Sam Main and seniors Caleb Grant and Isaac Smith made up the boys scoring roster. Zack Johnson also competed at the state tournament for the Wildcats.

The future is certainly bright for the cross country teams at both schools and next year.