Ryder Murdock and Avery Gerdes are Athletes of the Week presented by Billings Clinic
Billings Senior football's Ryder Murdock and Huntley Project cross country's Avery Gerdes are the Athletes of the Week presented by Billings Clinic for the week ending Oct. 12.
Murdock, a senior quarterback and defensive back for the Broncs, went 17-for-38 passing for 364 yards and six touchdowns in Senior's crosstown rivalry win over Billings Skyview this past Friday at Wendy's Field at Daylis Stadium.
Murdock threw for four of his scores in the first quarter and had his fifth less than 20 seconds into the second, ending his night with three touchdowns thrown each to receivers Davyn Lehfeldt and Jaxon Dixon. Murdock also had five total tackles, including a half-tackle for loss, on defense.
Senior, which has won two-straight games after a 1-4 start, can make it three in a row on the road Thursday at Great Falls CMR. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Gerdes, a junior at Project, won this past Friday's Huntley Project Invitational in a season-best time of 20 minutes, 18 seconds, which currently is the 11th-fastest time ran in Class B this year, per athletic.net rankings . She took the individual girls title in the event by over five seconds.
Gerdes is additionally a standout in track and field, having captured the Class B state championship in the 400-meter dash, 800-meter run and triple jump at last spring's state meet in Laurel. She additionally placed second in the 200 and high jump while also running the anchor leg on the Red Devils' runner-up 4x400-meter relay team.
Gerdes and the rest of the Red Devils will be trying to sharpen up their times ahead of the All-Class State Cross Country Meet on Oct. 26 at the University of Montana Golf Course in Missoula. Project's girls finished third in Class B at the state meet last season, with Gerdes leading the way by finishing second as an individual.
The Athletes of the Week presented by Billings Clinic are announced on Fridays in The Billings Gazette. Got a suggestion? Email it to .
