Mundel notches first victory

Wildkat runner Samantha Mundel won her first race of the season, taking first at the Ronan Invitational on Sept. 11.

She clocked a time of 18 minutes 51 seconds in the victory, beating Lily Lang, of Darby, by five seconds and Sarah Latcham, of Whitefish, by eight seconds.

As a team, the Kats took fourth. Corvallis won the tournament. The top five runners for the girls were Mundel, Kendra Cahoon, 32nd at 22:59, Morgan Christenson, 37th at 23:19, Haylie Peacock, 39th at 23:30, and Leanne Marino, 57th at 25:29.

“The girls had a good race,” coach Richard Menicke said. “We continue to improve individually. Same with the boys.”

Winfield West was the top runner for the Wildcats, finishing 39th at 18:25. Other Cat finishers included Hunter Peterson, 56th at 19:04, Gabe Knutsen, 61st at 19:20, Glen Morden, 66th at 19:27, and Storm Kemppainen, 81st at 20.2.

The boys were ninth overall, Hamilton won the event.

Columbia Falls travels to Missoula for the Mountain West Classic on Saturday.