Tiger-Grizz: Hundreds of runners persevere through tough course and gusty winds to chase medals

IDAHO FALLS – Jonas Porter of Rigby and Century’s dynamic duo of Ethan Hansen and Ammon Bitton entered Friday’s Tiger-Grizz Varsity A race with the top-3 times in the state.

On paper, it looked like the meet record time of 15:41.1 was likely in jeopardy.

But then the wind showed up.

“As soon as we got about 800 in, that wind was killer,” said Century’s Bitton, adding that the goal was to challenge that meet record set back in 2013.

Despite the brutal wind, Bitton and Hansen worked together and Bitton eventually took the lead and won the race in 16:05.5. Hansen was second in 16:18.0 and Porter finished in 16:27.9.

All three came into the race with times well under 16 minutes, but the weather didn’t cooperate on Friday.

That didn’t dampen the mood after the race.

“My goal my senior year is to give everything I can in every single race, so I’m putting in my best no matter how the race goes,” Bitton said. “I had that mindset over the last 800 and just wanted to surge and it ended up working out for me.”

Led by Porter’s third-place finish, Rigby won the boys team title, followed by Blackfoot and Skyline. Century finished fifth.

Makenzie Tucker of Highland was the area’s top finisher in the Varsity A girls race, finishing fourth in a season-best time of 19:49.5.

The A races were for 6A and 5A runners, while the B races were for 4A, 3A and 2A.

The big showdown in the boys’ B race was between returning 4A state champ Sugar-Salem and 3A state champ Malad.

Led by a 1-2 finish from Sugar-Salem’s Darrel Dickson and Adam Willis, it was the Diggers taking top team honors on Friday, scoring 43 points to Malad’s 74.

It was the third win in four races this season for Dickson.

“I wasn’t expecting a crazy time,” said Dickson, who ran a season-best 16:15.5. “The course is pretty difficult.”

Dickson won last year’s B race in 16:41.6 and went on to finish second at the 4A state championships.

“I’m very confident,” he said about training for a strong season. “I believe I’ll be right there with all those southeast Idaho competitors.”

As expected, the girls B race was competitive and had a youthful tone.

Soda Springs freshman Anna Uskoski continued her stellar rookie season, winning her first race of the season in 20:14.2. She broke 20 minutes in her previous two races, finishing third at the Centennial Course XC Invite and placing second at last week’s Cardinal Classic.

Seven of the top-10 finishers in the B race were underclassmen, with freshmen Taryn Campbell of Preston and Brielle Nalder of Malad placing fifth and seventh, respectively.

But it was senior Paetyn Polatis’s second-place finished that helped propel Snake River to the team title with 61 points. Sugar-Salem and Malad tied with 70 points.