The Broadus Cross Country team made the 10 hour, 600 plus mile drive to Kalispell for the state meet last week, with Broadus Coach Ashley Emmons driving the entire route to and fro in the school van.

The 15 passenger van features very little storage space, especially once all 11 runners plus Coach Emmons, along their gear piled into the van (the final member of the team, Sean Oylear, did not make the trip due to knee problems in the week leading up to State).

On Thursday the team drove as far as Missoula, stopping at a park in Bozeman to stretch their legs and run on a trail.

On Friday the team made it to Kalispell, doing a run/walk of the course in order to strategize their plans. Each racer had specific runners on other teams in mind they planned to beat in order to maximize their chances of a good score.

The Class C boys ran in the first race of the day, followed by Class AA boys, and then Class C girls.

For the Broadus girls, Alix Heacock placed 20th overall, running a 24:01. Gracey Bradley placed 36th, with a 25:58. Addison Draine placed 46th, with a 26:53. A total of 75 girls from across the state competed in the Class C Girls race.

As a team the Broadus girls placed 6th overall, with 102 points. Roberts won the meet, followed by Scobey, Sunburst, Belt, and Circle. 13 schools fielded complete teams for the race.

The Broadus girls have flown a bit under the radar this season, as the boys won medals while the girls steadily turned in solid performances, and found themselves in the top ten in the state throughout the season. They bettered that performance with their sixth place team showing at State, and also turned in the best team performance a Broadus girls team has ever had at the State meet.

For the boys, Thomas Oylear placed second, medaling with a 16:25 time. Oren Arthun won the state title for the third straight year, running a 15:55 for Manhattan Christian.

Eli Heacock also medaled, running a 17:30 for ninth place. Josh Rasmussen placed 24th, running a 18:57. Cooper Zimmer placed 34th with a 19:31. Christian Oylear ran a 20:12 for 45th place, and Jaxon Bilbrey a 20:21 for 48th place. A total of 113 boys competed at state in Class C.

Broadus narrowly missed third place as a team, scoring 35 points overall as Two Eagle River (located in Pablo, MT, south of Polson) scored 34 for 3rd. Drummond and Manhattan Christian both scored 33 points, with the tie-breaker going to Manhattan Christian (determined by where their 4th place runner finished). A total of 18 class C teams fielded a full squad for a team score.

"It was a little heartbreaking coming so close to a medal and missing out," Emmons commented on the boys missing the third point team medal by a point.

The spread between the top four teams was merely two points, meaning that had a couple runners finished a place higher or lower for any of the top four teams, the results may have looked significantly different.

Despite the narrow loss of a medal, two Broadus boys won All-State honors by finishing in the top 15, and brought home individual medals.

Speaking of going home, the team left Kalispell at around 12:45 PM on Saturday afternoon, and made it back to Broadus around 12 hours later, in the wee hours Sunday. Emmons noted that the team did a great job of taking turns talking with her and helping her to stay alert for the long drive: "Hats off to the kids' parents for raising a good bunch of kids," she commented on the group.

Emmons summarized the season: "The first season of coaching both boys and girls was super successful. Overall I'm very proud of all 11 runners."

The Broadus girls are pictured at State XC in Kalispell.

With six graduating seniors on the boys team, Broadus has two boys remaining, and will look to recruit more runners from the student populace to fill out a team. For the girls the future looks bright, as all three current runners look to return and better their times in the 2024 season.