Cross country teams improving steadily
Hungry Horse News
With every step, the Columbia Falls High School cross country teams are improving.
At the Flathead Invitational Saturday, both the boys and girls teams ran in the junior varsity races due to the nasty weather but still ran hard and ran smart.
Girls coach Steve Gasche said that he was encouraged by the way the girls ran without top runner Chelsey Marjerrison.
"This weekend was a big step in the right direction for our girls team," he said. "Last week we only had two girls under 24 minutes. This week we had three, Addie (Houle), Nikki (Elek) and Nellie Lutz."
The top Wildkat finishers were Houle at ninth place in 23:30, Elek at 10th in 23:39, Lutz at 13th in 23:59 and Jessica Dedman at 14th in 24:08.
Gasche said that the girls have improved steadily since practice began, and when Marjerrison comes back the team will be that much better.
"On the average, we have improved by over two minutes per runner over the past two weeks," he said. "This past weekend our top four girls were only 38 seconds apart. "
For the boys, the team finished fourth overall and senior runner Dalvin Averill placed 5th in 17:57. Brian Merseal finished seventh in 18:03, and Steffen Anderson finished 27th in 18:52.
Boys coach Richard Menicke said that all seven runners for the boys ran smart.
"I was pleased with our improving performances," he said.
Menicke also said that Averill was meeting expectations.
"He ran a very solid race, easing into the top 10 after 400 meters or so, and then fighting hard to maintain and gain positions," he said. "Very smart running. I appreciate that he quickly moves to the front where he belongs."
Menicke added that Merseal is in great shape and that Anderson would perform better in the future.
The teams will race again Thursday (today) in Pablo at the Silver Fox Golf Course.
Wildkat spikers open season with win
It's nice to start a season with a win, even if it is a little different than expected.
The Columbia Falls volleyball team (1-1) won an intense 25-20, 25-15, 15-25, 17-25, 15-5 match against Northwestern A conference foe Bigfork last Thursday, rallying from a blown lead to win the season opener.
The Wildkats were paced by Kate Marcille's nine kills and five aces. Amber Lineberry contributed 11 kills in the victory as well as Marcille's sister Sarah had five aces of her own.
Head coach Josie Brown said the Kats fought hard to the end.
"We won the first two games and the girls played very well," she said. "Then they stopped and kind of fell into a hole. The fifth game, I kind of pulled the seniors aside and said 'this is it.' They pulled it together and were able to come out of that deficit."
The girls took on Whitefish on Tuesday night, coming out strong, but eventually losing 25-22, 12-25, 12-25.
Brown said the girls came to play in the first set, but faltered as the match went on.
"They came back and ended up taking the game from us," she said. "We couldn't dig our way out of it. We made a lot of errors in serve receive and blocking."
The team plays tomorrow against Libby.
Golfers finish seventh at Ronan Tourney
The Columbia Falls High School boys golf team showed strong improvement in their early season by posting a team score of 340 and finishing seventh in the 12 team field at the Ronan High School Invitational last Friday.
Host Ronan captured first place with a 320 followed by Bigfork (319) Libby (323) Polson (330) and Big Sky (330).
The Cats were led by Bobby Pearce's 83 while Robbie Dakin and Andrew Sweeney shot solid scores of 84. Rounding out the scoring for the Cats were Shawn MacNorius and Mika Jam each with 89.
Senior Sydney Jordt saw her first varsity action of the season and shot 152.
Head coach Gene Marcille was encouraged by the team's progression.
"I was excited to see these kids play solid golf. In fact, most of these scores were personal bests in competition," he said. "Bobby Pearce got on track this week, and Robbie and Andrew played like you expect seniors to - very focused and competitive. Their hard work paid off."
This week the Cats will host Whitefish on Thursday (today) at Meadow Lake in a match-play dual starting at 2 p.m. On Friday CFHS hosts an invitational at Glacier View Golf Course in West Glacier starting at 9:30.
This annual meet is the only junior varsity tournament in the conference and more than 80 golfers are expected to compete.