Billings Invitational a Tepid Affair for Running Scotties

The four-plus hour drive back to Glasgow from the Billings Invitational is, for all intents and purposes, a straight shot North; painting a uniform positive or negative tinge on the Scotties' results in the race, in comparison, is a sheer impossibility replete with ess-curves, backroads, and dead-ends.

The varsity boys' squad finished 13th out of the 20 teams with enough runners for an official score, while the girls' top unit slipped into 15th out of 15 in its meet.

Despite the two teams' distance from the top of the pack, multiple Scotties of both genders high-stepped their way forward and turned in a day to remember.

Freshman Ellis McKean, competing in his second high school meet, averaged a 5:43 mile pace en route to a time of 17:09 and a 45th-place finish. Twelve seconds later, Walker Allen broke the tape, improving on his time from last week's Glendive meet by over a minute.

"The course was a lot faster than last week's," said McKean, who set a new PR. "And the weather was perfect."

McKean's brother, Merlin, meanwhile, snatched fourth out of 304 runners in the Junior Varsity race, posting a time of 17:27. His team finished 17th out of 22.

For the girls, Morgan Guttenberg took 71st overall with a time of 22:23, and Alex Simensen slotted into 77th soon thereafter.

"[Coach] Karst told all the girls to get down to 22 [minutes]." said Guttenberg, "We're getting there."

Katie Kaiser led the way for the girls' JV, recording a time of 24:35. The team, having fielded four runners – one shy of the requisite five – did not post a final score.

Next up is the Malta Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 12, a course on which Guttenberg and McKean know they cannot afford passivity. "We need to prepare to attack hills," said Guttenberg on Monday evening prior to team practice. "We're excited."

Billings Invitational

Sept. 4, 2015

Varsity Boys:

Ellis McKean 45th  17:09

Walker Allen 54th 17:21

Gabe Hallock 82nd 18:21

Ethan Jamba 91st 18:32

Braden Meland 98th 18:56

Chase Hughes 112th 19:19

Logan Gunderson 126th 20:09

  Junior Varsity Boys:

Merlin McKean 4th 17:28

Shane Sinclair 83rd 19:57

Colton Pewitt 96th 20:42

Colin Jamba 101st 20:49

Anthony Kaiser 113th 21:21.28

Presley Hallock 114th 21:21.0

Tanner Overby 117th 21:27

Jordan Billingsley 282nd                      24:59

Varsity Girls:

Morgan Guttenberg 71st 22:23

Alex Simensen 77th 22:36

Emily Kolstad 84th 23:05

Julia Kolstad 90th 23:18

Mary Fewer 99th 23:59

Faith Sallee 112th 24:46

Brinlie Nielsen 114th 25:14

Junior Varsity Girls:

Katie Kaiser 115th 24:35

Kaylee King 173rd 26:42

Alexus Nistler 212th 28:54

Andrea Hansen 246th 34:05

 Next meet is at Malta on Sept. 12th

(Complete results can be found at http://www.competitivetiming.com)