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Harriers run strong at Missoula

| October 1, 2009 11:00 PM

The Whitefish cross-country teams had a great competition on Sept. 26 at the Mountain West Classic in Missoula. One of the premier meets in the Pacific Northwest, it attracts more than 1,200 runners from Montana, Washington and Idaho.

"They do a great job hosting a fantastic competition," Whitefish coach Bill Brist said. "The meet is about 10 times tougher than our state meet, so it's always fun to see how we do against the best teams from Montana and Washington."

Brist said the Whitefish girls had a great meet.

"Their fifth-place team finish kind of caught me by surprise," he said. "We felt that a top-10 finish would have been a solid placing for us. The girls did a great job of competing. I was proud of the entire team's effort. They are coming along nicely."

Bailey Eaton, Jessica Sagen and Loni Hanson led the Lady Bulldogs by placing 24th, 27th and 32nd overall. Hannah Weaver (82nd) and Carly Schwicket (95th) rounded out the team scoring.

"Our top three ran very well," Brist said. "It's a tough field to run through. The pace goes out too fast, so it's easy to get caught up in the momentum. Bailey, Jessica and Loni are in good enough shape to handle it, thus they were rewarded with high placings."

Weaver and Schwicket also ran great, he said, and both are really coming along. They're running with some of the best in Class A right now, and he expected continued improvement all the way to the state meet.

"We'll need to continue with the development of our sixth, seventh and eighth runners (Liz Stevenson, Anne Miller and Nicole Birk) to really be ready for the important meets at the end of the season," Brist said, "but I feel really good about our position right now."

Brist noted that the Lady Bulldogs have yet to see the Glendive girls, who may pose the toughest challenge of the season.

"I think that if we can stay healthy, we'll have a good shot at reaching our season goals," he said.

The Whitefish boys also had a nice meet in Missoula, finishing 39th in the overall team standings and 10th among Class A schools.

"The boys did a good job of running in the large field," Brist said. "There were nearly 400 runners in the varsity race. That's a lot of runners to work past. It's easy to get caught in the pack for the first mile, but they were able to work their way out by the halfway point."

The Bulldogs were led by Nathan Knox and Jace Kalbfleisch (138th and 170th). Freshman Fischer Gangemi finished as the third Bulldog runner with a time of 18:29.

"Nearly our entire boys team ran personal bests," Brist said. "That's what you like to see at a big meet like this one."

Brist noted a couple teams are just in front of Whitefish, and he'd like to catch them by the end of the season.

"I feel really good about these young men and their performances," he said. "They're doing what they need to do to be successful this season."

Mountain West Classic

University of Montana Golf Course

Girls varsity teams

2. Bozeman 101

3. Billings West 223

4. Billings Senior 249

5. Whitefish 260

23. Columbia Falls 714

24. Hamilton 720

27. Browning 846

29. Lewistown 874

31. Polson 915

32. Hardin 938

33. Anaconda 971

35. Belgrade 1,062

36. Havre 1,087

37. Miles City 1,103

39. Dillon 1,151

41. Ronan 1,333

Girls individual varsity

24. Bailey Eaton, 19:21

27. Jessica Sagen, 19:31

32. Loni Hanson, 19:38

82. Hannah Weaver, 20:36

95. Carly Schwickert, 20:49

194.Liz Stevenson, 22:10

214. Anne Miller, 22:32

Girls individual JV

37. Nicole Birk, 22:11

302. Katrina Brown, 29:01

309. Justine Dugdale, 29:27

316. Haley Hill, 30:11

Boys varsity teams

5. Flathead 259

14. Columbia Falls 506

19. Laurel 626

23. Browning 685

24. Lewistown 690

30. Frenchtown 787

33. Corvallis 882

34. Polson 893

37. Belgrade 1,007

38. Havre 1,017

39. Whitefish 1,079

42. Ronan 1,221

43. Dillon 1,224

44. Hamilton 1,265

46. Hardin 1,328

47. Anaconda 1,329

48. Libby 1,377

Boys individual varsity

138. Nathan Knox, 17:30

170. Jace Kalbfleisch, 17:48

236. Fischer Gangemi, 18:29

263. Baxter Graham, 18:49

272. Chris Reyna, 18:55

277. Will Holdhusen, 18:59

332. Francisco Valle, 19:53

Boys individual JV

288. Dietrich Perchy, 20:59

290. Matt Kennedy, 21:02

294. Spencer Hale, 21:06

313. Peter Seymour, 21:29

350. Matt Kennedy, 22:06

380. Jon Jacobs, 22:41

395. Zach Blumhardt, 23:06

433. Adam Negri, 28:08