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McMurtrey, Hartnett shine at Helena city cross country meet; Helena High sweeps

Posted at 9:20 PM, Oct 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-18 18:01:12-04

HELENA – One year after having a decade’s worth of wins in the city cross country meet snapped, the Helena High girls are back on top again.

Kylie Hartnett paced the Bengals to an easy win on Wednesday at Bill Roberts Golf Course, as Helena High finished with the top four runners in the race. Hartnett, only a freshman, clocked a time of 19 minutes, 21 seconds to win the city title by more than 40 seconds.

“It was more mentally hard to push myself to break 19 minutes again,” Hartnett said, less than a week after placing fourth at the Capital City 7-of-7 Invite. “I’m not sure if I did (break 19 minutes) because I had nobody pushing me. It was really kind of hard not having somebody there.”

Hartnett was a top-10 finisher at the Mountain West Classic in Missoula two Saturdays back, before crossing No. 4 in last Thursday’s race on the same Bill Roberts course, so she’s no stranger to competition. Running out front on her own, however, was an adjustment.

“I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but this was my first time not having somebody there. It’s going to take a little bit to get used to that,” she said.

Hartnett and Helena High nearly completed a perfect score, taking the top four spots. Each team’s top-five finishers counted toward the team scores.

Jasmine Wilkerson (20:03), Rylie Schoenfeld (20:07) and Kylee Wetzel (20:27) placed second through fourth, respectively. Katelyn McKay (21:09) finished in sixth to lead Helena High to 16 team points. Capital finished with 51.

“That’s exciting. We worked really hard these past couple weeks to make sure we won back the title,” Hartnett said, after Capital snapped the Bengals’ 10-year win streak in the crosstown rivalry last fall.

The Bruins were led by Emma Rohrer-Fitzhugh, who paced Capital with a time of 20:35 and a fifth-place finish. Zoey Wall (21:36) and Willa Mcardle (21:42) earned top-10 finishes for the Bruins.

The boys race was a closer affair, both individually and in the team standings, but Helena High upped its streak to 18 consecutive victories over the Bruins.

Despite the team finish, Helena Capital saw senior Jesse McMurtrey race to the No. 1 spot, defeating Helena High rival Jonah Fisher by 10 seconds. McMurtrey finished in 16:49, Fisher 16:59.

“I took the lead on the second lap, about halfway through,” McMurtrey said of the tight race between the Bruin and Bengal stars. “I saw his arms were a little bit stiff, so I was just doing my best to stay behind him and when I needed to go, I decided to take off when I felt good.”

McMurtrey saved his best for last, sprinting away from Fisher in the home stretch of the race, riding the cheers from the Bruins’ fans.

“In the end I was just trying to finish really strong, give it everything I got, because I knew he was right behind me. I didn’t want to lose the lead at that point,” he said.

Like the girls, the Helena boys placed four runners in the top five Wednesday, led by Fisher. Trystan Brewer (17:09), Clayton Ryerson (17:11) and Zane Roush (17:13) placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Sam Sullivan (17:51) was eighth to total 22 team points for the Bengals.

McMurtrey’s win, along with Peter Lund’s (17:23) sixth-place finish, Carlin Onstad’s (17:46) seventh-place finish and ninth- and 10th-place efforts from Travis Peterson (18:00) and Danny Leas (18:05) gave Capital 33 points in the team standings.

Helena’s harriers join the rest of the runners in Montana at University of Montana Golf Course next Saturday, Oct. 20 for the state meet.

Results from Wednesday’s city meet can be found below.

Place

Athlete

School

#

Time

1

Hartnett, Kylie

HHS

9

19:21

2

Wilkerson, Jasmine

HHS

31

20:03

3

Schoenfeld, Rylie

HHS

23

20:07

4

Wetzel, Kylee

HHS

30

20:27

5

Roher-Fitzhugh, Emma

CHS

116

20:35

6

McKay, Katelyn

HHS

12

21:09

7

Wall, Zoey

CHS

119

21:36

8

Mcardle, Willa

CHS

112

21:42

9

Aasved, Paige

HHS

1

22:13.14

10

Oelkers, Grace

HHS

16

22:13.39

11

Greve, Jordan

HHS

6

22:19

12

Ryan, Carly

HHS

22

22:22

13

Krumm, Ella

CHS

109

22:23

14

Plant, Alyssa

HHS

18

22:27

15

Murgel, Maddy

HHS

15

22:40

16

Sweeney, Naomi

HHS

25

22:42

17

Romney, Hannah

HHS

21

22:44

18

Davidson, Elizabeth

CHS

104

22:45

19

Turner, Fallon

CHS

118

23:03

20

Aasved, Payton

HHS

2

23:25

21

Swanson, Janel

HHS

24

23:34

22

Menden, Annie

HHS

14

23:45

23

Triem, Robin

HHS

28

23:50

24

McNamara, Tatum

HHS

13

23:53

25

Magera, Heather

CHS

111

24:05

26

Edwards, Madelyn

HHS

5

24:17

27

Walsh, Reegan

HHS

29

24:32

28

Hamill, Katelyn

HHS

8

24:37

29

Lightner, Kaley

CHS

110

24:39

30

Shropshire, Ella

CHS

117

24:52

31

Downing, Claire

HHS

4

25:19

32

O’Leary, Tamara

HHS

17

25:28

33

Maronick, Laurel

HHS

11

25:30

34

Grossman, Erin

HHS

7

25:46

35

Thennis, Riley

HHS

27

25:52

36

Withrow, Savannah

HHS

32

25:55

37

McGree, Molly

CHS

113

25:58

38

Frederick, Karina

CHS

106

26:03

39

Doran, Ellie

CHS

105

26:08

40

Wolf, Elise

CHS

120

26:10

41

Roberts, Chloe

HHS

20

27:15

42

Patten, Elaina

CHS

115

27:53

43

Taylor, Morgan

HHS

26

28:21

44

Randall, Alexa

HHS

19

35:48

45

Brewer, Breanna

HHS

3

46

Huber, Olivia

HHS

10

47

Belzer, Kayton

CHS

101

48

Bracht-Bedell, Nina

CHS

102

49

Carter, Leigha

CHS

103

50

Harmon, Molly

CHS

107

51

Hinshaw, Jasmine

CHS

108

52

Mihelish, McKinlee

CHS

114

 

Place

Athlete

School

#

Time

1

McMurtrey, Jesse

CHS

313

16:49

2

Fisher, Jonah

HHS

205 16:59

3

Brewer, Trystan

HHS

202 17:09

4

Ryerson, Clayton

HHS

218 17:11

5

Roush, Zane

HHS

217 17:13

6

Lund, Peter

CHS

312

17:23

7

Onstad, Carlin

CHS

317

17:46

8

Sullivan, Sam

HHS

222 17:51

9

Petersen, Travis

CHS

319

18:00

10

Leas, Danny

CHS

311

18:05

11

Pida, Nicholas

HHS

213 18:08

12

Jost, Tyler

CHS

308

18:35

13

Turner, Nate

CHS

322

18:40

14

Nelson, Ethan

HHS

211 18:46

15

Ulmer, Luke

CHS

323

18:47

16

Holston, Cameron

CHS

305

18:48

17

Rencher, James

CHS

321

19:03

18

Mow, Nick

CHS

316

19:09

19

Bonilla, Grayson

HHS

201 19:12.02

20

Lovshin, Ian

HHS

209 19:12.44

21

Carlson, Eric

HHS

203 19:14

22

Rindall, Roy

HHS

216 19:18

23

Curry, Jacob

CHS

303

19:22

24

Stutz, Boyd

HHS

221 19:23.04

25

Christensen, Dallin

HHS

204 19:23.36

26

Jones, Bryson

CHS

307

19:33

27

Patton, Justin

CHS

318

19:44

28

LaPierre, Westin

HHS

208 20:10

29

Morrison, Keenan

CHS

315

20:15

30

Eodice, Chris

CHS

304

20:21

31

LaPierre, Devin

HHS

207 20:29.6

32

Michaletz, Charlie

CHS

314

20:29.85

33

Kelly, Tristan

CHS

309

20:38

34

Stefaniak, Evan

HHS

220 20:51

35

Whitehorn, Noah

CHS

324

20:57

36

Pollard, Jaron

HHS

214 21:17

37

Markovics, Kyle

HHS

210 21:28

38

Post, Jacob

CHS

320

22:55

39

Jankowski, Reid

CHS

306

23:36

40

Sena, Colby

HHS

219 24:00

41

Cardona-Bernal, Aimar

CHS

302

25:56

42

Beckman, Gabe

CHS

301

27:16

43

Jenkins, Kaden

HHS

206

44

Pandis, Hunter

HHS

212

45

Rightnour, Wyatt

HHS

215

46

Kuney, Jack

CHS

310