Kats top Whitefish at Ronan Invitational

Derrick Williams was once again the top class A runner in the field at the Ronan Invitational last week. Williams clocked a 15:53, good enough for third at the Sept. 17 race. Flathead's Zach Perrin won the event, with a time of 15:21.

Wildcat sophomore James Ratzlaff also had a solid day, taking 18th with a time of 17.25. Zayne Brunz ran the race at the Pablo Golf Course in 18:12, good enough for 27th.

On the girls side, Jinise Osborne took 10th with a 20:14, Meredith Stolte was 19th with a 20:55, Carlee Brown was 30th with a 22:10, Tori Price was 32nd with a 22:15, Cami Casazza was 36th with a 22:45, and Samantha Mundel took 45th with a 23:30.

The girls took fourth place overall and were the top Class A team at the meet with 127 points, beating Whitefish for the first time in years. The boys didn't have enough runners for a team score.

"The girls ran solid," coach Richard Menicke said. "Stolte had a great race. It was a huge personal record. She took nearly a minute off her best time."

Menicke was also pleased with the boys, even if they were short some runners due to various problems.

"Williams ran a great race," Menicke said.

For the second week in a row, Williams ran close to Flathead's Perrin throughout the race, but he couldn't catch Perrin at the end. Ratzlaff is also getting better each week.

"He's coming along nicely," Menicke said.

The team travels to the Mountain West meet in Missoula this Saturday. Menicke said it should be a good test for the team, since the Missoula race draws the top class A schools from across western Montana.