A final battle for Glacier's Hill, Bigfork's Morley

Though Glacier’s Annie Hill and Bigfork’s Bryn Morley weren’t first in the line of strong girls distance runners in the Flathead Valley, they’ve certainly done their part in continuing the trend.

But long before they were the top two middle-distance track and field runners in the area, they were just two middle schoolers enjoying the competition they provided one another.

“Bryn would win one race, and then Annie would win one race,” Glacier girls track and field coach Jerry Boschee recalled. “They went back and forth throughout junior high.”

Their competition spilled into high school and will come to a bittersweet end today at the Archie Roe Invitational in Kalispell. The two seniors will face off for the final time in today’s 800-meter run.

“It’s gonna be a good one,” Bigfork track and field coach Sue Loeffler said. “It’s going to be fun to watch.”

When these two get together, that seems to be the case more often than not.

After back-and-forth competition through middle school and their freshmen years of high school, the rivalry between Hill and Morley died down during their sophomore seasons as the latter dealt with a stress fracture in her foot that prevented her from running track.

It resumed last year, but Morley was still hampered at times by lingering effects of the foot injury.

It’s been no issue this season, as Hill and Morley have combined to dominate an increasingly competitive middle-distance scene in Montana.

“It used to be nobody ever went below five (minutes in the 1,600) for girls,” Loeffler said. “Now, how many are actually doing it — it blows me away.”

Both Hill and Morley clocked sub-five-minute times in the event at Archie Roe a year ago. Hill edged Morley by 10 seconds and set a meet record at 4:47.30 with a strong final-lap push.

Morley holds the top 1,600 time in the state this year at 4:50.05, a good bit ahead of Hill’s best mark of 5:04.42.

Hill, however, has the upper hand in the 800, which is the only event both runners will compete in today.

She clocked a 2:13.15 earlier this season, and Morley’s top time this year is 2:16.88. Hill and Morley are first and second in the state in 800, respectively.

“It’s a motivating factor for all of them, even if they don’t see each other in every meet,” Boschee said of their competition. “Over the 24 years that I’ve been here, there’s been a ton of really good distance runners that have been ranked nationally. This year is definitely not an exception.”

When Loeffler recalls the days Hill and Morley were trading wins in middle school, she remembers considering the pressure the two wunderkinds would face in high school.

“As eighth graders, they’re running so well, and I think they’ve had to live up to that,” she said. “I think sometimes that’s hard to do.”

But both have managed it.

Hill and Morley have already enjoyed storied careers including state championships and broken records, and they’ll hope to add even more to their resumes in the coming weeks as their final state meets approach.

But first, there’s one final showdown.

“It seems like the Valley has never been short of a star — or stars,” Boschee said.