Blue Hawks host 2020 TF Invite

One of the favorite cross country races of any season for area runners, the Thompson Falls Invitational was held on sunny, scenic River's Bend Golf Course last Thursday.

Highlighting the efforts for coach Sarah Naegeli's Blue Hawk harriers, senior Justin Morgan ran down an impressive second place in the boys varsity race with a time of 17:15.95, and freshman Hattie Neesvig led the Hawks in finishing 20th in 23:14.89.

Eureka won the boys team race with 60 points, Columbia Falls was second with 61 and Whitefish third with 67. The Hawks placed sixth in the team run with 163 points.

In the girls varsity race, Columbia Falls went low with 22 points to win, Whitefish was second at 56 and Frenchtown third at 78. The Lady Hawks, who were missing their top runners Josey Neesvig and Ellie Baxter due to illness, did not have enough runners for team scoring.

The highlight of the meet for Thompson Falls was the Lady Hawks winning the junior high team race with 52 points, edging out St. Joseph (58), Bigfork (67), Darby (68) and Ronan (82) for the team title.

Solvieg Nygaard led the young Lady Hawks, finishing 6th in 15:12.49, Aubrey Baxter was 7th in 15:16.10, Kaylene Morkert (15:55.48) 12th, Kylee Huff (17:31.22) 20th, Claire Lakko (18:12.78) 22nd, and Sophia Lafriniere (24:38.05) 38th.

The Hawk boys did not figure into junior high team scoring.

Back in the boys varsity race, Brooks McAfee clocked out in 19:14.44, Trae Thilmony in 20:25.65, Nathan Cottingham 21:47.32, Andy Koonce 22:07.51 and Ben Croft 24:19.07. Briar Palmer (24:16.13) and JJ Fields (24:20.12) ran in the boys junior varsity race.

In the girls varsity race, Faith Palmer ran the course in 26:06.69, Megan Baxter finished in 26:38.68 and Roni Hanks timed out in 27:57.93.

The Hawks ran in the Mission Invitational Tuesday but results of that meet were not available. The Hawks will compete in the Pablo Invitational at Silver Fox Golf Course Saturday.