Cross-country off to good start

The 2008 high school cross-country season began with an upbeat performance by both the boys and girls teams from Whitefish High School at the Libby Invitational this past weekend.

The girls, revamped after the loss of several outstanding leaders to graduation, came out to show they may have the potential to reach even greater heights.

The boys were hit even harder with graduation, losing nearly a dozen runners. Only two varsity letter-winners returned from last year.

The Lady Bulldogs dominated the nine team field in Libby by placing all seven runners in the top-12, placing first overall with 25 points. Junior Loni Hanson led the group with her third-place individual finish (18:57).

"Loni did a great job for her first meet of the season," head coach Bill Brist said. "To run under 19 minutes the first time out was a great achievement. She had fast competition from Fraley (Glacier) and Carlson (Bigfork). Both of whom are a couple of the fastest runners in the state."

Stella Holt (4th, 19:37), Jackie Cassidy (5th, 19:51), Bailey Eaton (6th, 19:52) and Jessica Sagen (7th, 20:11) swept the next four places to secure the win. Glacier High School finished second with 68 points.

"I think most spectators were a bit surprised our girls were able to run so fast this early," Brist said. "It was a good field, and we packed them up nicely in the front of the field."

Brist said Holt and Eaton both had their typical great races.

"To be under 20 minutes the first race of the season bodes well for their future results," he said. "We really have been keeping the workouts at the basic level right now. As we pick up our intensity, I'm sure the times will continue to drop. We could be seeing some scary times from these two later in the season."

For the boys, it was the two senior team captains who led the team to a fourth-place finish. Drew Coco pulled away after the first mile and cruised to a 15:31 course and school record. Patrick McGunagle took seventh in 17:21 for the three-mile course.

"Drew is running well. He'll only get faster," Brist said. "Considering that he's starting at the mid-15s, you can use your imagination to see what kind of times he'll be running by mid-season. I think if you want to experience what it looks like to watch a really, really fast cross-country racer, you may want to come out and watch Drew race. He's kind of at a different level than most high school runners."

Brist said McGunagle has been running all summer and looks great.

The rest of the pack for the Bulldogs is where the team results will be created.

"There's not a whole lot of experience in the rest of the team," Brist said. "Sophomores Dietrich Perchy, Tucker Chambers and Chris Reyna have improved a ton, but there's still a long way to go for this group to compete at the level that we've seen the past three years."

Newcomers Erik Hanson, Will Holdhusen, Nathan Knox, Daniel Rivera and Matthew Kennedy will certainly help.

"There's actually quite a bit of talent with these new runners," Brist said. "While it won't be immediate, I think we can do some pretty good things with this group."