MISSOULA, Mont.—Native American athletes competed with the best runners in the state at the 45th Annual Montana High School Association Cross Country Championship, held Oct. 25 here at the University of Montana.
The Native runners came from reservation high schools in Lodge Grass, on the Crow Reservation; Browning and Heart Butte, on the Blackfeet Reservation; Rocky Boy, on the Rocky Boy's Reservation; Ronan, on the Flathead Reservation; and Wolf Point, on the Fort Peck Reservation. They also ran for Hardin High School, located on the northern border of the Crow Reservation; Havre, near the Rocky Boy's and Fort Belknap Reservations; and Culbertson, just west of the Fort Peck Reservation.
The runners from Culbertson High School traveled the farthest: 650 miles, more than 10 hours by bus.
Crow tribal member Fred Alden IV, a senior at Hardin High School, was one of the highest-finishing runners at the meet. Alden finished sixth in the Class A race with a time of 16:28.78, and his team placed 13th.