Bozeman girls, Summit boys win NXNNW

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

The boys and girls from Bozeman MT, plus the boys from Summit OR and the girls from Sunset OR, are the first teams to earn their way to Nike Cross Nationals.

On Saturday at Eagle Island State Park, the Bozeman girls upset the formchart and won the Northwest region championship. Furthering Montana's great day at this meet was a 1-2 finish for Annie Hill of Glacier and Christina Aragon of Billings Senior ahead of third-place finisher and 2014 regional champion Ella Donaghu of Grant OR. 

The Summit boys scored 120 points to Bozeman's 128. North Central WA, which has qualified for NXN eight years in a row, was third with 155. Crater OR was fourth with 176. Mountain View ID was fifth. 

The Bozeman girls scored 109 points, followed by Sunset with 119. Summit was third with 143 and Jesuit was fourth with 155.

Up front, Hill ran 17:31.1 for the win and Aragon was second in 17:33.9. Hill plans to try and return to Foot Locker so won't be competing at NXN. 

Brody Smith from Cody WY was the boys winner in 15:23.6. He beat Washington 4A champion Jack Yearian of Bellarmine Prep, who was the runner-up with 15:28.8.  Andy Monroe of Crater OR was third in 15:32.2.

Montana has its first qualifying boys team in Bozeman, which has won eight straight Class AA state titles. The girls will make their third trip. The Hawks also made it in 2010 and 2013. 

"Right there at the course there was a celebration. It was quite an experience to be pulled into (our) tent," Bozeman coach Clint May said. "Kids were so excited they were shaking."

Summit is the first boys team from Oregon to qualify for NXN in back to back years. In a race where all of the top teams seemed to lose contact with their fifth men, Summit's Scott Kincade gave his team a huge boost with his 38 points. That was 20 points lower than Bozeman's fifth. Similarly, the Bozeman girls won the regional title because fifth runner Phoebe Jacques was easily the best fifth in the race, scoring 41. There were moments of concern for Bozeman early. The team's fourth and fifth runners got out slowly and 400 meters into the race they were buried in 120-130th place. They worked together to move up.

Sunset, Oregon's 6A state champion and US#11, will make its first national championship appearance.

The Apollos are the school closest to Nike headquarters that has ever qualified for NXN. Head coach Dan Neeway can walk from his house to the corporate campus, and does for events such as BorderClash.

"There was a lot of celebration when they announced third place (and it wasn't us)," Neeway said of the team's reaction. "(The girls) ran pretty darn well."

Sunset needed a key contribution at No. 5 from Kelly Makin, who two weeks before the state meet was thrown from a hourse and suffered a concussion. Makin missed nine days of running while she recovered. 

"If we don't have her, we don't get (to NXN)," Neeway said. "Our sixth and seventh have been fighting injuries."