MISSOULA – A pair of runners from Kalispell Flathead crossed the line first at the Missoula Sentinel cross country invitational on Thursday.
Sentinel freshman Brooke Stayner raced to the front early in the girls varsity race. She held a large lead after the first of two laps at Fort Missoula Regional Park, but about two-thirds of the way into the race, Flathead sophomore Tori Noland-Gillespie took the lead. She held off Stayner and Kalispell Glacier’s Kinzie Peterson to the finish line. Noland-Gillespie finished in 19 minutes, 46 seconds, five seconds ahead of Stayner and eight seconds ahead of Peterson.
The boys race wasn’t nearly as close. Flathead star senior Ben Perrin stayed with the pack through the first quarter of the race. Then, he pulled away and never looked back. Perrin crossed the finish line in 15:29, 43 seconds ahead of second-place Aren Alexander-Battee of Glacier.
