Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
STRIDING OUT to a good start, Thompson Falls' Justin Morgan ended up finishing first for the Thompson Falls boys in the divisioal meet at River's Bend last Thursday. Hawks Erik Melendez and Wyatt Griffith are pictured behind Morgan.
FALLS SOPHOMORE Josey Neesvig finished in fifth place in the Western B and teammate Rachel Ribeiro in tenth to win divisional honors.
What a beautiful day for running; and what a wonderful performance by the home team.
The Western B-C Divisional cross country meet was held at River's Bend golf course Thursday and the host Hawks and Lady Hawks enjoyed great meets in the last tune-up before the Montana All-Class meet in Missoula Saturday.
Bigfork won the Western B girls title and Eureka claimed the boys crown at River's Bend, but that was not the real story in Thompson Falls coach Sarah Naegeli's mind.
"(It was) probably the best race day we've had this season," she said. "Our runners came ready to race and compete, and the number of PRs (personal records) proved they were up to the challenge."
Lady Hawk harriers Josey Neesvig and Rachel Ribeiro led the Thompson Falls team in by winning fifth and tenth, respectively, in the girls race. Neesvig clocked a rapid time of 21:17 while Ribeiro timed out in a season-best 22:44.
Breaking into the sub-19 minutes category for the first time this season, Justin Morgan ran down a time of 18:53 to lead the Falls boys, and Ben Beauchman (20:11), Erik Melendez (20:34), Wyatt Griffith (20:28), Nathan Burwig (20:53), Nick Viera (22:10), Marc Boyd (23:03) and Ben Croft (27:21) all followed in season-best times.
Daniel Ryan, who will not be running in Missoula, clocked out in 27:54.
The Lady Hawks also all ran season-best times in following Neesvig and Ribeiro in.
Megan Baxter crossed the finish line in 26:00, Kacey VanZanten timed out in 28:03, Roni Hanks in 29:24 (beating her previous PR by almost two and a-half minutes) and Reagan Hanks in 32:20.
Pris Sommers also competed in her last race of the season but unfortunately missed a turn and went off course.
Beauchman and Boyd will also not be racing in Missoula for the Hawk boys.
Coach Naegeli said she, and her runners, are eager to go to Missoula for the state meet.
"We had several runners run really great races last time we were there (at the Mountain West Invitational back in September) despite the wind and cold," she said, "so I look forward to some more great performances."
"We've also had some really strong practices the last couple weeks," she added. "Things are coming together when they should be."
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