Gangemi, Kalbfleisch lead harriers at Ronan

The Whitefish High School cross country teams went to the Ronan Invitational looking for positive team results and improved individual results. What they received was much better.

The boys team came away with a fourth-place finish in the varsity results, just missing the Missoula Big Sky team by a single point. Missoula Hellgate and Flathead finished first and second in the team scoring.

Whitefish was led by Fischer Gangemi (4th place in 15:28) and Jace Kalbfleisch (8th place in 15:34).

“Their times are two of the top three times that we’ve ever had within our program,” said Whitefish coach Sara Brist. “Although courses are different, we still use race times as a basis of rating our runners. The rating for both of them is on par with the best that we’ve had. I’m extremely proud of both of them and their performances.”

Caleb Knox (24th in 16:25), Thomas Henson (16:57) and Keaton Grove (17:18) rounded out the top five Bulldog scorers.

“Caleb is having a fantastic season,” Brist said. “I think he’s just beginning to believe just how good of a runner he can be. Thomas and Keaton continue to improve which should allow us to have success on the team level in every meet we run.”

Waylon Roberts had a fantastic race, as well, Brist noted. He was just five seconds behind Grove.

“That really helps us out with our depth,” Brist said.

The Lady Bulldog team had a successful competition, as well. Whitefish placed sixth out of 16 teams. They were led by Sarah Latcham (20th place in 20:36). Peyton Twete (31st in 20:56) was the second bulldog across the line to help with the team scoring.

Barrett Grey (39th in 21:36), Sloan Ellis (42nd in 21:54) and Emma Marchetti (44th in 22:06) also finished well to contribute to the Bulldog score. Katie Smith and Samantha Eason were close behind with finishing times of 22:09 and 22:16.

“Sarah has been doing a great job of leading the team,” Brist said. “She continues to improve and show that she is strong in just about every type of race. I’m also very pleased with the efforts of Peyton and Barrett. They are also showing great consistency for being such young runners.”

Whitefish races in the Thompson Falls Invitational on Thursday.

“We’ve always raced well there, and we look forward to giving it our best efforts to come back with competitive team results,” Brist said.