Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

Several Sanders County residents spent their Sunday on the streets of Missoula for the Missoula Marathon weekend. More than 2,000 people competed in the full marathon of 26.2 miles, and another 714 ran 13.1 miles in the half marathon.

Katie Banovich of Plains finished the full marathon in 4 hours. Susan Crowder of Thompson Falls finished in 4:34, and Haley Morgan of Thompson Falls, who is attending Carroll College, finished in 4:44.

Four members of the Naegeli family of Trout Creek competed on Sunday. Brothers Jacob Naegeli, who now lives in Wisconsin, and Logan, of Oregon, finished the full marathon in 2:58 and 2:59, respectively. Sister Mariah and mom Sarah did the half marathon. Mariah, who now lives in Kentucky, finished in 1:48, and Sarah in 2:20.

Jacob Naegeli is on a short list of Legacy Runners for the Missoula Marathon. He and a couple dozen other athletes, including Andrew Gideon, formerly of Thompson Falls, have competed in the Missoula Marathon since its inception. Gideon, who now lives in Eureka, finished his 16th Missoula Marathon in 4 minutes, 12 seconds.

Run Wild Missoula photo

Katie Banovich of Plains crosses the finish line after running 26.2 miles in the Missoula Marathon.

Justin Morgan, a Thompson Falls graduate who now runs competitively at Montana Tech, finished the half marathon in 11th place, crossing the finish line in 1 hour, 13 minutes, 11 seconds. Karli Thomas of Thompson Falls was No. 18 out of 169 females in her age group, finishing in 1:49:10.36. Thompson Falls teacher Sierra Lilly was 15th among 196 females in her age group, finishing in 1:53:31.85. And Nievecitas McGuire, also of Thompson Falls, finished the half marathon in 3:24:17.32. Jessica Valentine, a doctor at Clark Fork Valley Hospital in Plains, also ran the half marathon in 3:46:12.53.

There were nearly a dozen half-marathon competitors from Sanders County on Sunday. The youngest was Audrey Fairbank, 11, of Thompson Falls. She finished her first half marathon in 2:04:32 and was third among females aged 14 and under. She ran with her friend Cael Thilmony, who finished just behind her in 2:04:33. Their moms also trained and competed together in the half marathon. Sarah Fairbank and Doree Thilmony crossed the finish line together in 2:06:55.

Brittany Nichols of Thompson Falls ran both Saturday and Sunday. She finished the Tony Banovich Memorial 5K in 35 minutes, 31 seconds, and the half marathon in 2:28:21. Also finishing the 5K were Plains residents Donald and Susan Damschen (43 minutes, 42 seconds), Rick Hanks (26:20) and Erin McCarthy (33:06).