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The Thompson Falls cross country team headed north for the Flathead Invitational last Friday and some Hawks ran their new personal bests.

Sophomore Hattie Neesvig finished the course in 22 minutes, 12 seconds, setting a new personal record. Faith Palmer also ran a personal best of 23:46, as did Levi Myers (19:35) and Ethan Geisbusch (24:38). Roni Hanks ran for the varsity girls, finishing in 30:07, while Will Hyatt (19:17) and Ben Croft (23:58) rounded out the Hawk boys competing in Kalispell.

"We had some great races with some new personal records, and kids continue to improve," said Coach Sarah Naegeli. "Ben had a wonderful finish at this race, really kicking it in."

Naegeli said the Hawks arrived to a new challenge at Rebecca Farms in Kalispell last week. Race organizers shortened the course, requiring runners to make the loop three times instead of two. "For our Thompson Falls runners who are used to hills, this was a good change," Naegeli said. The team also faced the challenge of fewer competitors due to a variety of issues. "That hit us hard last week," Naegeli told The Ledger. "We look forward to having everyone back, healthy and training and racing together in the near future."

Sarah Naegeli

RECORD RUN - Levi Myers ran his personal best at Rebecca Farms in Kalispell last Friday, finishing the course in 19 minutes, 35 seconds.

The young junior high Hawks had an incredible day in Kalispell, Coach Sarah Stover said, with two of the runners placing in the top 10 at the Flathead Invitational. Aubrey Baxter finished in third place among the girls with a time of 9 minutes, 54.06 seconds, and Brock Ryan was eighth for the boys in 9:22.18. "Every meet they keep improving their time by almost 1-2 minutes," Stover said. Also competing for Thompson Falls Junior High in the 1.55-mile race were Evan Lofthus (11:25.18), Remington Ryan (12:42.01), Solveig Nygaard (11:12.50), Lexi Franck (11:23.34), Kylee Huff (11:32.61), Cora Anderson (12:15.07) and Brooke Flemmer (16:52.72). "We work hard and it shows," Stover added.

The Blue Hawks were set to compete at the Mission Invitational on Tuesday (results were not available at press time) and will head to Missoula for the Mountain West Classic on Saturday. The race at the University of Montana Golf Course presents some good competition for area runners, as Naegeli said it could possibly have a bigger turnout than the state meet later this year.