GREAT FALLS — Great Falls CMR swept the individual titles in a crosstown cross country matchup Wednesday against Great Falls High at Elks Riverside Park, with Stella Damyanovich and Peyton Johnson coming away victorious.
Damyanovich, a junior for the Rustlers, won the girls race while setting a personal best of 18 minutes, 35 seconds.
The relatively flat course helped Damyanovich lower her personal best and gave her an opportunity to gauge where she stands ahead of the state meet.
“I’m excited because state is supposed to be a flatter course too, so it’s a little bit of perspective of how fast I should be going, hopefully,” Damyanovich said.
Her performance continued what she described as a strong season, not just individually, but for her CMR teammates as well.
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“I feel like it’s been a really good season,” Damyanovich said. “I know all my teammates have had a really good season too. It’s a lot of fun to see.”
Despite the crosstown nature of the meet, Damyanovich said the relationship between the two Great Falls programs is friendlier than the word “rivalry” might suggest.
“I wouldn’t even say they’re our rivals,” Damyanovich said. “I’m really good friends with a lot of people on the team. It’s just a lot of fun to be able to race with them.”
Damyanovich, who said she finished seventh and 10th at state in her first two seasons, is hoping for another high finish this year.
“I really hope to be in the top seven again at state this year,” she said. “We’ll see how it goes.”
On the boys side, Johnson accomplished both goals he set entering the race: earning the win and recording a personal best.
“It felt great,” Johnson said. “I was going for a big PR and the W today, and I got both of those, so it was really nice.”
Johnson, a senior, is in his first season at CMR after previously running at Cascade. Despite moving into Class AA competition, Johnson said the transition has been smoother than he expected.
“Honestly, the transition was surprisingly smooth,” Johnson said. “This team is so awesome. It’s been probably the funnest season of cross I’ve ever had.”
He said competing against some of the top runners in Class AA has pushed him throughout the season.
“This has been my most consistent season and best season time-wise,” Johnson said. “As far as just placing and running with all the big AA guys, it’s just really helped me with trusting myself and pushing myself past the pain.”
Wednesday’s meet was Johnson’s first crosstown experience and, as a senior, also his last. He said he quickly learned how much the meet means to the two Great Falls programs.
“I had never even done the crosstown, and then they were like, ‘Yeah, this is a massive deal,’” Johnson said. “So I was like, ‘All right, I’ll buy into this.’ And yeah, it’s been really awesome. This is a great meet. Just the culture of Great Falls running, it’s just awesome.”
Now, Johnson will turn his attention toward state with confidence after another strong performance.
“I’m much more confident than I was before,” Johnson said. “I think I can dip under 16 at state. That’s the goal.”
