It was a busy week for the Thompson Falls cross country teams as they traveled to Arlee last Tuesday for the Fish Hatchery Run and then Polson on Saturday to run at the Lake County Fairgrounds.

"Even with the rain at Arlee and the hay bales at Polson, times are dropping and they are looking strong," Coach Sarah Naegeli said of her high school team. "Our runners have been putting in the miles and working hard at practice, which is paying off."

Naegeli said Arlee was a fast course, with the first mile on a gradual downhill slope on a long, paved road. The second and third miles included some nice scenery and a nice steep little hill, she added. Will Hyatt won the boys' race in 17 minutes, 38 seconds, and Blue Hawk Faith Palmer won the girls' race in 22:44, a personal record. Mollie Nichols finished in 23:48, also setting a personal record, and Roni Hanks had a time for the Hawk girls. In the boys' race, Cael Thilmony finished sixth in 19:11, joining Hyatt in the top 10. Briar Palmer had his best of race of the season, finishing in 22:47. Other Blue Hawk boys competing last week in Arlee were Levi Myers (20:26), Alessi Rolando (21:50), Will Hawkins (22:30), Ben Croft (23:03), Christian Murdock (23:21) and Alek Sweeden (25:21).

The Thompson Falls Junior High girls brought home a first-place finish from Arlee, led by seventh grader Aubrey Baxter, who finished in second place month the girls in 13:09. Other young Hawks to compete in Arlee included Solveig Nygaard (14:40), Kylee Huff (14:52), Lex Franck (15:30, Cora Anderson (16:52) and Brooke Flemmer (22:06) for the girls, and boys Brock Ryan (13:10), Evan Lofthus (15:08) and Remmington Ryan (18:41).

In Polson, Naegeli noted that there were several hay bales to jump, which add something different to race day. For the girls, Hattie Neesvig led the chase, finishing in 22:20, followed by Palmer (22:47), Nichols (24:40) and Hanks (28:27). Murdock led the Hawk boys (21:50) in Polson, finishing with a personal record that was more than a minute under his previous record. Sweeden also had a personal record of 24:17, and Palmer finished in 23:44.

Sarah Naegeli

JUNIOR HIGH ATHLETES get a unique start to their race in Polson last weekend. The race was held at the Lake County Fairgrounds.v

The Blue Hawks move on to the conference championship meet, slated for Wednesday, October 13. The meet will be run on their home turf at River's Bend Golf Course.