Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
Weston Block of Thompson Falls (left) and Tuff Ryder of Trout Creek crest a hill at the Wilderness in Libby on Saturday.
Blue Hawk JT Taylor (left) competes in Libby.
Local cross country athletes traveled to Arlee last week for the Hatchery run, and the Thompson Falls high school girls all finished in the top 10 of the race. Senior Ellie Baxter crossed the finished line first in 21 minutes, 34 seconds, while eighth-grade sister Aubrey was third in 23:19. Faith Palmer finished fourth among the high school girls (23:48) and Kylee Huff was ninth (28:43).
The Thompson Falls boys finished second as a team in Arlee, and junior Cael Thilmony was second among the high school boys, crossing the finish line in 18:59. JT Taylor (20:51), Blake Schusterman (22:44), Simon Armstrong (22:57), Wesley Powers (25:51) and Jakob Molina (26:35) also competed for the Hawk boys.
Thompson Falls also competed in the Wilderness Run on Saturday, which was a very hilly course on cross country ski trails above Libby, Coach Sarah Naegeli said. She noted that the high school course was only three miles, so times were faster in Libby. She said that several runners had personal records on the course, even when converting them to 5K times.
In the junior high race, Thompson Falls' Lexi Franck (15:40) and Weston Block (14:05) both finished in the top 10, and the boys took second as a team. Other junior high boys competing for the Hawks were Evan Lofthus (16:32), Wyatt Franklin (15:45), Noah Hill (16:39) and Nathan Baxter (15:30). For the girls, Addie Traver (21:59) and Brooke Flemmer (23:57) also competed in Arlee. Coach Holly Franck noted that her young team has been battling sickness, but the athletes pushed through hot weather on the 2-mile course. "There is a very steep hill near the 1.5-mile that takes some energy to get up. Our runners really attacked the hill, most of them saying they passed a few competitors there," Franck noted.
Trout Creek and Plains also competed in the Arlee Hatchery run. For the boys, Kalem Ercanbrack finished in 18th place for Plains, crossing the finish line in 22:19. In the junior high race, Talon Ferlan finished in 15:41 and Cathleene Barber in 24:38. For Trout Creek, Tuff Ryder led the Eagles, finishing in 15:19, followed by Eithan Chamber (15:21), Eillie Chambers (18:13), Makarlie Stein (19:12) and Zoey Willis (32:52).
Aubrey Baxter led the Hawk girls in 21:10 at Libby, finishing in seventh place. Kylee Huff ran the course in 26:50 and Kellyn Carr 34:03. For the boys, Thilmony finished fourth in 17:45, Brock Ryan ran the course in 19:11, Taylor in 20:08, Schusterman in 21:41, Armstrong in 21:50, Powers in 23:45 and Molina in 25:04. Among the boys, Ryan, Taylor, Schusterman and Molina ran their personal bests in Libby.
Coach Franck was really happy with the way her kids raced in Libby. "The trail is rocky and has some hills that did not intimidate our boys and girls at all," she noted. The young Thompson Falls team had three runners finish in the top 10, including Block, who was eighth overall (11:15), Audrey Fairbank who was second in the girls' race (11:21) and Franck who finished ninth in the girls race (12:16). "Everyone worked hard and the weather was cool, perfect for running," Coach Franck said. Baxter (11:55), Lofthus (11:59), Hill (12:52) and Remi Ryan (14:20) also competed for the junior high boys, with Flemmer (15:41) and Traver (16:18) competing in the girls race.
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