Fight to the finish
Hewston, Lady Pirates finish third at state, boys 14th
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HELENA — Despite starting in the 13th lane, several nagging injuries and a heartbreaking photo finish, the Lady Pirates came away from Saturday’s state cross country meet with a phenomenal accomplishment as Polson placed three runners in the top 10 to earn the third place trophy.
Freshmen Claudia Hewston and Tegan Bauer both earned all-state honors (top-10) as Hewston finished third and Bauer came in tenth while senior Mesa Starkey closed out a great high school cross country career by finishing eighth.
The toughest moment of the day came at the finish line for the Lady Pirates as Hewston narrowly missed earning the individual state title.
After battling back and forth with a pair of other runners for most of the course’s three miles, Hewston made a brilliant strategic move to pull ahead on the last turn of the race. She headed into the final 100 yards of the race with a seemingly insurmountable lead, but then the unthinkable happened.
Just feet from the finish line, Hewston slowed her stride slightly to raise her arms in triumph. The mistake was exactly what Fergus’ Brook Rodgers and Corvallis’ Sadi Henderson were hoping for as both runners lunged just inches ahead of Hewston at the finish line.
While the end of the race was devastating for Hewston, head coach Matt Seeley says it will only make her stronger.
“Claudia ran a phenomenal race just to come back from where she was and take that lead at the end,” Seeley said. “It might not have turned out the way we wanted, but she is a spectacular runner and she’ll be back there again.”
For Hewston, it was an unfortunate end to an amazing season. Picked by no one at the beginning of the season to be a factor come state, she continually worked her way to the front of the Class A cross country scene with a big win at the Polson Pirate Duels before earning second at the conference meet in Libby Oct. 16.
“I saw her with that lead at the end, and I walked back to coach up the other girls. I was very surprised when they said she had finished third,” Seeley said. “She has a lot of heart and she really showed it in this race. She wasn’t really expected to be up there in the front in this race, and I feel really bad about how things turned out for her.”
The top freshman finisher in Class A, Hewston will surely not be overlooked by anyone come next season.
“She ran one of the most inspiring races I have ever witnessed,” Seeley said.
Hewston’s time of 18:51 was also a personal record.
For senior runner Mesa Starkey, her eighth-place finish and the team’s third-place finish was a great end to a strong career that included second, third, eighth and 16th-place finishes at the state level. Starkey finished with a time of 19:45.
Bauer’s 10th-place was also a great boost to the team score as she finished with a time of 19:54.
“She looked more confident than I have ever seen her,” Seeley said. “She also seemed to be one of the few runners out there actually enjoying the race experience at the time.”
Fellow freshman Aja Starkey made her return from injury at the race, running for the first time in more than a month. After having a spectacular start to the season, the year ended in disappointing fashion for Aja as the injury slowed her to a 24th-place finish with a time of 20:31.
“Aja has had a very tough season and it took all the strength she could muster to struggle through that last mile,” Seeley said. “We look forward to great things from Aja next year.”
Whitney Zimmerman overcame a hip flexor injury to earn a 56th-place finish for the Lady Pirates with a time of 21:47, Alisha Jore overcame a nagging calf injury to finish 76th with a time of 22:21 and Laura Barta finished 99th with a time of 23:18.
The finishes were enough to earn the Lady Pirates a third-place finish with 100 points, 12 points behind Fergus (88) and 20 behind Whitefish (80).
In another cruel twist of fate, the Lady Pirates were unable to take the podium to get their trophy as a scoring error initially gave third place to Corvallis. The mistake was eventually corrected, but several of the Lady Pirates had already left by the time the trophy changed hands.
“It was pretty frustrating not getting to be up on the podium there to get our trophy,” Seeley said. “After all the work these girls put in, they deserved to have that moment.”
Things were not quite as dramatic for the boys’ team, who earned a 14th-place finish.
Alex Nystrom led the way for the Pirates, finishing 25th with a time of 17:33 while Travis Hayes was 34th at 17:42, Jimmy Bjorge was 53rd at 18:02, Nick Andrews ran a 19:05 to come in 97th, Reed Hovenkotter was 105th at 19:16, Mike Bournstein ran a 19:17 to come in 107th and Tel Motichka was 116th at 19:27.
“I’m just glad the boys’ race wasn’t as exciting as the girls,” Seeley said. “I might not have been able to take that. I like the way our guys ran consistently well all season. It was great having several kids battling it out for that top spot every week. I really think our boys’ program is getting on the right track.”
For Seeley and his runners it was a great ending to a season full of hard work. With several runners returning next season, the future looks bright for Polson cross country.
