Records fall at TF meet

Records were meant to be broken, and Saturday at Thompson Falls' home cross country meet, nearly every record was broken.

"That kid from Plains almost caught up to the four-wheeler." That was the reaction of other competitors on Saturday as Simeon Costner of Plains tied the course record of 11 minutes, 17 seconds, at the 24th annual Thompson Falls cross country event. Sophomore Marina Tulloch broke the course record for the girls by nearly a minute. In the junior high girls race, Quinn Delaney of Polson set a new course record of 12:48, and Kyler Harris of Florence was within 1.5 seconds of the course record for the high school boys.

Costner, an eighth grader, ran the 2-mile course in 11 minutes, 17.23 seconds, crossing the finish line nearly a minute before the second-place finisher. Also of note is that this was the junior high boys race, the first competition of the day on Saturday. After crossing the finish line, Costner told The Ledger that he will be moving up to compete against the high schoolers next week. "I'm excited to have more competition," he said. "I just keep pushing myself." Costner said his goal for the season is to finish a high school race in under 17 minutes. "I think he'll do just fine," Coach Jesse Jermyn said of Costner moving up to compete with the high school runners. The high school teams run 3.1 miles, or a 5K. The winner among the varsity boys on Saturday was Florence senior Kyler Harris, who finished in 16:26.5.

In the four races on Saturday, there were a combined 565 runners, with hundreds of spectators. The race has traditionally been held on Tuesdays, with fewer spectators able to attend during the week. But the crowd Saturday was large and energetic as they cheered on the competitors from 17 schools throughout the region under a cloudless sky on the last day of summer.

Tulloch finished the 3.1-mile course in 18 minutes, 43.96 seconds, 11 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Morgan Delaney of Polson. It was a personal best for Tulloch. "Marina has already achieved her goals for the season, so we will have to reset those," Coach Jermyn said. The Plains High School girls finished fourth as a team, with Tia Bellinger crossing the finish line in 22:32.47, followed by Ireland Corbin (23:20.13) and Annika Ercanbrack (23:23.20). All of the Plains varsity girls finished in the top 50.

"They did a phenomenal job," Jermyn said of the Plains teams. The Horsemen and Trotters as a team have set a goal of placing in the top three in the state. "They have been running really well. We're looking forward to Mountain West (in Missoula) to see how everybody ranks among others from the state." Tulloch is currently ranked No. 1 among Class B runners and in the top five overall in the state.

For the Thompson Falls High School girls, eighth grader Audrey Faibank led the charge in her first high school race, finishing in 22:05.83. Sophomore Aubrey Baxter crossed the finish line in 22:38.88, with Lexi Franck (23:13.22), Evalyn Edwards (23:25.43) and Peighton Kenney (24:30.46) helping the Hawks finish sixth among the 11 teams. Madeline Zyromski represented Thompson Falls well in the JV race with a time of 26:32.35.

The freshmen took the top honors in the high school competition for the local teams, with John Owen Jermyn of Plains finishing in 17:49.02 and Weston Block of Thompson Falls in 19:28.68. Cord Greer, also a Plains freshman, was just behind Jermyn in 17:50.71. Jermyn and Greer were in the top 20 of the 119 varsity boys competing. Mike Reistroffer finished in 18:49.75, Kalem Ercanbrack in 19:01.43, Jack Cockrell in 19:51.70 and Brock Ryan in 20:09.84. Competing for the Plains JV team were Asher Seymour (21:58.29) and Remington Ryan (21:58.82).

For the Blue Hawks, Nathan Baxter crossed the finish line in 20:18.65, followed by Blake Shusterman (20:28.70), Luke Pastorius (21:29.67) and Jakob Molina (23:31).

Back in the junior high boys' race, Wyatt Franklin of Thompson Falls led his team with a time of 13:54.94, followed by Mason Bartlett (14:33.78), Kaleb Susic (15:30.70) and Nolan Wilkes (16:03.47). Finnian Ercanbrack led the Plains junior high boys with a time of 14:35.63, followed by Ryker Anderson (14:36.44), Bryan Lakko (14:43.13), Colt Browning (15:00.68) and Trace Browning (15:55.77).

Dixon School was well represented in the junior high boys race, with eighth grader Sonny Matt leading his team in first with 17:23.95, followed by Abram Boyd (18:01.08), Jaxon Courville (19:16.99), Joey Matt (20:45.94), Dazzy Howard (21:18.78) and Aaron Mock (22:07.90).

There were 122 competitors in the junior high girls race. Seventh grader Libby Franck of Thompson Falls finished in sixth place with a time of 13:48.13, with Shelby Harmon (15:15.83) and Gabby Taylor (15:20.33) finishing in the top 20. Emmy Russell of Plains crossed the finish line in 15:33.85, with Hawks Ava Taylor (16:50.18) and Ande Kate Franklin (17:25.25) also boosting the Blue Hawk girls to a fourth-place finish as a team.