Cross Country . . .. From Page Eight
From Page Eight
Town & Country Club Golf Course, which is flat, fast and virtually all grass. The 2023 event is scheduled for Saturday, September 23, with the initial starter’s gun going off at 10 a.m.
Missoula — The Mountain West Classic is run on the University of Montana Golf Course. If a high school girl or boy cross country runner wants to continue the sport at the college level, this is the meet they have to compete in because many college scouts are in attendance. This meet, which attracts around 2,500 competitors, is hosted by the Missoula Running Club and Mountain West Track Club, which are not affiliated with any Montana high schools.
“It is a deceptively hilly golf course” with the start being a gradual incline, said Glasgow Coach McKean. The surface consists of mostly grass with small sections of dirt trail.
“There is a monster hill” about 1.75 miles into the race said Chinook head coach Kendal Harwood. “It can mentally break some people.”
As brutal as it can be, the hill can be attacked and used to a runner’s advantage to pass other competitors. On a dirt trail it is about 400 meters up and then about 400 meters down where it re-enters the golf course and retraces the path the runners ran the first mile.
Whitewater Coach Hammond wrote in October 2021 after the All-Class State Meet was held on it: “There were girls that walked and there were girls that cried getting up that hill.” At the 3-mile mark it veers off a bit and finishes on a fairway across from the starting line. Teams from all over the Pacific Northwest show up and this upcoming season it is scheduled to be conducted on Saturday, September 23. The course is scheduled to host the MHSA’s 61st annual All-Class State Meet Saturday, October 26, 2024, with the order of races being Class C boys, AA boys, C girls, AA girls, A boys, B boys, A girls and B girls.
Plentywood — The race, usually held during the last week of the regular season but changed to Saturday, September 16 this season, has a little bit of everything when ran on the Plentyw...
