XC girls take first in Libby
The Whitefish High School cross-country teams competed at the Libby Invitational Cross Country meet on Sept. 3 and left with promising results.
The Lady Bulldogs came away with a victory in the teams standings, winning with a low score of 22. This performance bettered teams from Glacier High School and Sandpoint, Idaho. Teams from Bigfork, Eureka, Lakeland, Idaho, and Libby also participated but failed to score as a full team.
"This is the fourth year in a row that our girls have opened with a win," Whitefish coach Bill Brist said. "I was impressed with how our squad competed with the other runners. The best bit of knowledge that we came away with is that we know we still have quite a bit of room to improve."
Bailey Eaton held the lead in the race until the final 50 meters. Glacier's Heather Fraley just edged by to take first place with a time of 18:57. Bailey finished with a 19:01, the same time she ran last season while winning this race.
In third and fourth place were teammates Jessica Sagen and Stella Holt. Both cracked the 20-minute mark with their individual times of 19:29 and 19:59.
Carly Schwickert and Jackie Cassidy rounded out the team scoring for the Whitefish team with their sixth- and seventh-place finishes. Emma Marchetti finished in 15th at 22:18, and Anne Gustenhoff ended up in 20th at 23:14.
"These seven runners all looked great for it being their first competition of the season," Brist said. "We've been trying to ease into our workouts to keep everyone healthy, so I'm pleased with how well everyone ran with such basic workouts. I'm anxious to see where they end up once we really have a chance to train more specifically."
Brist said it was nice to have Holt and Cassidy back healthy for the beginning of the season.
"We missed both of them last year," Brist said. "They'll be the key to our success this season. Bailey and Jessica led us all last year, and with Carly rounding out the top-five, we have a pretty dominating scoring crew this season."
Brist said the key may be with the number six and seven runners.
"You never will know when you may have a freak accident, as we had with Stella last year," Brist said. "You have to have more than five runners if you want to escape with a chance to compete for a state title in cross country."
Emma Marchetti had a strong race in Libby, he said. Her time was over a minute and a half better than last season.
"I'd like to think she can knock another minute and a half by the end of the season," Brist said.
Foreign exchange student Anne Gustenhoff showed tremendous potential as well, he noted.
"It will be fun to see where she improves to by the end of the season," Brist said.
Maya Gordon, Kendyl Collinsworth, Justine Dugdale and Taylor Bodway all had great season-openers as well, he said.
The Whitefish boys also had a strong showing at the Libby meet, finishing third out of eight teams. Sandpoint won the team event with a low score of 26 points, over Glacier High School.
Mathias Komarek, a foreign exchange student from the Czech Republic, led the way for the Bulldogs with his eighth-place finish at 17:31. He was followed closely by teammates Fischer Gangemi, Jace Kalbfleisch and Nathan Knox, who finished 12th, 13th and 14th. Will Holdhusen rounded out the top-five with at 16th.
"The team split for the top-five Whitefish runners was an amazing 20 seconds," Brist noted. "That's about as tight of a pack as I've seen. It was pretty neat to see Mathias and Nathan come by at 2 1/2 miles, and then I noticed four more Bulldog runners close behind running in a pack."
Dietrich Perchy had a strong run to finish in 19th with a personal best time of 18:03. Freshman Thomas Henson rounded out the top-seven Bulldogs with his 30th place effort at 19:41.
"I'm not really sure what to think about this boys team," Brist said. "They're better than they were last year, I know that much. I also have a feeling that they're going to get a lot faster as the season progresses. I don't think many have large expectations out of them, but if they continue to run like this, I think it could make things very interesting."
The next meet for the teams will be the Lincoln County Invitational on Sept. 10 in Eureka.
Libby Invitational
J.Neils Park, Sept. 3, 2010
Teams
1. Whitefish 22
2. Glacier 38
3. Sandpoint 68
— Bigfork no score
— Libby no score
— Eureka no score
— Lakeland no score
Whitefish girls
2. Bailey Eaton, 12, 19:01
3. Jessica Sagen, 12, 19:26
4. Stella Holt, 12, 19:59
6. Carly Schwickert, 12, 20:33
7. Jackie Cassidy, 12, 20:39
15. Emma Marchetti, 10, 22:18
20. Anne Gustenhoff, 11, 23:14
Teams
1. Sandpoint, Idaho 26
2. Glacier 48
3. Whitefish 63
4. Lakeland, Idaho 106
5. Libby 132
6. Eureka 181
— Bigfork no score
Whitefish boys
8. Mathias Komarek, 12, 17:31
12. Fischer Gangemi, 10, 17:41
13. Jace Kalbfleisch, 10, 17:41
14. Nathan Knox, 12, 17:49
16. Will Holdhusen, 10, 17:51
19. Dietrich Perchy, 12, 18:03
30. Thomas Henson, 9, 19:41