Great Falls High distance ace Ryan Harrington named the Tribune's Male Athlete of the Year
In the fall, Great Falls High head track coach Dave Killian watched his son Isaiah finish second among fifth-graders at the city cross country meet.
The proud father found his son after the race, and the younger Killian mentioned a hero of his who happened to be volunteering at the meet with other members of the Bison cross country team.
“’You know what, Dad? I want to be like Ryan Harrington,’” Killian said his son told him.
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Killian then told Harrington: “’Not only as a coach am I unbelievably proud of everything you’ve done, but as a father, I can’t think of a better role model for my child.’
“He’s a role model for everyone.”
For a star-studded cross country and track distance career that ended with individual and team state championships his senior year, Great Falls High’s Ryan Harrington has been named the Tribune’s Male Athlete of the Year for 2023-24. The Montana State University commit was previously named this publication's Male Athlete of the Fall for his efforts in cross country.
From his sophomore through his senior seasons, Harrington finished three times in the top four at the state cross country meet and garnered eight All-State (top-six) performances for the track team in the spring.
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At Rebecca Farm in Kalispell in October, Harrington finished second overall (15:27.22) in the 5,000-meter contest to lead the Bison over all-time Montana record-holder Nathan Neil and Bozeman High for the state cross country title.
Great Falls High put three overall in the top eight (John Spinti, fourth; Ashtyn Rask, eighth) and five in the top 30 (Conrad Schruth, 26th; Zander Reeves, 28th) to take the crown under head coach Bob Stingley, the program’s first since 1979.
“(Harrington has) been probably one of our hardest workers ever. He’s a great kid and a great student. If I had a daughter, I’d want her to marry Ryan,” Stingley told the Tribune following state cross country. “He’s just that kind of kid. Hard worker, great leader and it’s hard to say enough good things about him.”
For good measure, Harrington was also a standout in soccer during his double-duty in the fall season, earning another all-Eastern AA accolade as a midfielder for the Bison last season.
Fast forward to his senior track season, Harrington nearly rewrote the entire distance record book for Great Falls High. Harrington owns the all-time Bison records in the 800 (1:52.69) and the 3,200 (8:58.33). He is second all-time in the 1,600 (4:14.07) in Great Falls High history to Branch Brady (4:13.70, set in 1965), who went on to legendary status for his cross country and track-distance coaching career at C.M. Russell High.
In almost any other era, Harrington’s times would have earned him multiple state titles in both cross country and track, had it not been for the competition of Bozeman’s Neil and Weston Brown. This season, Neil not only set an All-Class record at the state cross country meet (14:45.47), but followed it up with all-time Montana records in the mile (4:04.89) and two-mile (8:53.19).
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The record-shattering career of Neil, a University of Washington signee, comes on the heels of Weston, now at Princeton, who previously set the All-Class record in 2023 with the Hawks in the 1,600 (4:10.68) and won the 3,200 on top of a state title in cross country in 2022.
Harrington's deserved yet elusive title came at Memorial Stadium on May 25 in the 800 with a time of 1:52.69, edging defending champ Wilson Schmidt of Belgrade (1:53.07) in the final stretch to top the field at state. His time not only extended his own program record but set the all-time Memorial Stadium mark in the event.
“In anything other generation, Ryan wins all those state titles,” said Killian, also a Bison cross country assistant. “He just happens to be going against the best in Montana history. To see Ryan have that opportunity to get on top of a podium in the generation he’s in, it was just the pinnacle.”
Harrington also finished third at this year’s state track meet in the 1,600 (4:18.00) and 3,200 (9:25.09) as the Bison boys finished third as a team.
The state 800 final was doubly historic for Great Falls High, as another senior Ashtyn Rask finished third (1:54.36) with the second-best time in Bison history to Harrington in the same race. To go out an individual champion along with the success of his longtime friend and teammate Rask made the moment tough to beat, Harrington said.
“Every year since my freshman year, there’s just been great, phenomenal Montana runners,” Harrington said at this year's state meet. “It just meant a lot to me to come away with a state title finally…It’s really special (with Rask). We’ve been running together since seventh grade. We just worked so hard and came away with the state championship in cross country and (Rask) came really close to making state (track) last year and recommitted himself this winter and we really pushed each other at practices...We knew he had the speed and he got it done today.”