Harriers place 2nd and 3rd in Ronan

The Whitefish High School cross-country teams came away from the Ronan Invitational with a good idea of where they stand at the mid-point of the season.

The girls, led by the runner-up finish of Bailey Eaton, finished second to Flathead High School. The boys finished in third place behind Flathead and Columbia Falls. They were led by Nathan Knox (12th place in 17:52).

"I thought the girls team did very well today," coach Bill Brist said. "We were edged by a good Flathead team by a single point. That's the way it goes sometimes."

Brist said Eaton did a great job of leading the girls, and the rest of the team also ran well.

"I like where we are for this time of the season," he said. "I think we still have a bit of room to improve, so we just need to keep hitting our workouts, and try to stay healthy."

Brist said the boys also ran well.

"Nathan ran a strong race, as did Jace Kalbfleisch," he said. "The rest of the boys did a good job as well. I was impressed by the fact that we were able to finish ahead of the Ronan team. They were ahead of us all of last season, so if we can continue to improve, maybe we could aim for a top-two finish at the Divisional meet at the end of the season."

The next meet will be the big Mountain West Classic.

"Although it's a bit over our heads as far as competition is concerned, with all the AA and Washington schools in attendance, I think we will be able to show the rest of the Class A competition where we are," Brist said. "I think we'll be in a dogfight with both teams, as the competition in the Class A seems to be a lot closer than in the past couple of years. Right now, it's all about health and improvement."

Girls varsity teams

1. Flathead 35

2. Whitefish 36

3. Columbia Falls 66

4. Ronan 123

5. Bigfork no score

6. Arlee no score

Girls individual results

2. Bailey Eaton, 19:26

4. Jessica Sagen, 20:19

6. Loni Hanson, 20:55

8. Hannah Weaver, 21:14

16. Liz Stevenson, 22:26

18. Anne Miller, 23:07

23. Nicole Birk, 24:02

Girls JV

1. Carly Schwickert, 21:54

31. Justine Dugdale, 29:29

32. Katrina Brown, 29:30

35. Haley Hill, 32:59

Boys varsity teams

1. Flathead 21

2. Columbia Falls 44

3. Whitefish 96

4. Ronan 105

5 Arlee and Bigfork no score

Boys individual results

12. Nathan Knox, 17:52

17. Jace Kalbfleisch, 18:19

20. Baxter Graham, 19:11

21. Chris Reyna, 19:14

26. Will Holdhusen, 19:37

29. Francisco Valle, 20:27

33. Matt Guitterez, 21:34

Boys JV teams

1. Flathead 15

2. Ronan 86

3. Whitefish 118

4. Columbia Falls 125

5. Polson 140

6. Bigfork no score

Boys JV individual results

10. Fischer Gangemi, 19:15

19. Daniel Riviera, 20:43

24. Dietrich Perchy, 21:48

31. Matt Kennedy, 22:36

34. Spencer Hale, 22:56

37. Jon Jacobs, 25:28

38. Zach Blumhardt, 26:02

41. Adam Negri, 31:28