Wildkat spikers finish tourney strong

By JOE SOVA

Hungry Horse News

Columbia Falls High School's varsity volleyball team may have won only two of its 10 games in the Whitefish Season Starter tournament on Saturday, but that does not concern coach Addy Hines.

"We have so many talented girls. We wanted to work them in different positions," Hines explained. "There were a lot of changes and rotations."

The Wildkats were swept by their first four opponents in the tourney. But the Kats were competitive as six of the eight games were decided by six points or less. They lost to Ronan, 25-20, 25-22; Bigfork, 25-22, 25-20; Whitefish, 25-13, 25-19; and Stillwater Christian, 25-17, 25-23. CFHS closed out the day with a 25-12, 25-11 win over Polson.

By the last match, the Kats were "finding their groove," according to Hines. "I told the girls to be flexible and they did exactly what I asked them to do."

Hines said it was nice to see the Kats play aggressively all over the court.

Despite suffering an ankle sprain, setter Sarah Marcille did a nice job of adjusting to what was happening on the court, Hines said. The coach praised libero Staci Pence for her back row play and sophomore Brooke Cady for her net play.

Hines likes the format of the opening tournament.

"It lets me see what's going on with the girls," she said. "We had some holes in our tip coverage."

The coach added that the team needs work on free ball coverage and all-around communication.

The Kats open Northwest A Conference play Thursday, Aug. 30 at Polson.

Harriers run time trial in Kalispell

The Columbia Falls cross country team ran in a time trial last Friday hosted by Flathead High School.

The top runner for the Kats was Nikki Elek with a time of 24:07, followed by Anna Downen with a 24:46.

Shawn Whitman led the boys with a time of 18:43, followed by Patric Jessat with an 18:45. Tripp Gimbel was the third boys finisher with a time of 19:12.

The team travels to Libby on Friday, Aug. 31 for its first Northwest A meet.