Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Houchin, Luebke and Zell

Butte High cross country runners Sophia Houchin, Bridger Luebke and Lincoln Zell are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.

The honors come after the Bulldogs ran their best times of their careers Saturday at the MHSA Cross Country Meet at Amend Park in Billings.

Houchin, a sophomore, takes home the girls honor after finishing the 5-kilometer race in 19 minutes, 12 seconds. That put Houchin in 37^th place in the race of 108 runners.

Not only was Houchin’s time a personal record, it is also the fastest 5K run by a Butte High girl since Montana cross country meets switched form 3 miles to 5 kilometers in 2017.

The impressive time in the season finale came after Houchin missed much of the summer and early part of the season with a hip injury suffered in the spring.

Luebke and Zell share the boys’ honor after leading the Bulldog boys. The duo finished the race one second apart.

Luebke, a senior who was hobbled with injuries for much of the season finished the race with a time of 17:12. Zell, a junior, finished in 17:13.

Luebke closed his prep cross country career by placing 69^th out of 112 Class AA runners. Zell finished 70^th while running with what had to be the best hairdo of the meet. Zell ran with a purple fohawk riding high. He also had “Butte” shaved into the side of his head.

Since the beginning of 2023, Leskovar Honda, home of the non-commission sales staff that always has your back, has teamed up with the ButteCast to honor the finest student-athletes from the Mining City to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.