Lady runners perfect again, boys win by 1

By DAVID ERICKSON - Whitefish Pilot

Led by Loni Hanson's course record victory (18:59), the Lady Bulldogs pulled off another perfect score of 15 against a good field Saturday at the Whitefish Quadrangular cross-country meet.

The Bulldog boys, led by Drew Coco's course record run, also claimed first place by one point.

Lauren Kuennen (19:13), Clare Miller (19:19), Stella Holt (19:31) and Bailey Eaton (19:36) swept the second- through fifth-places to give the Whitefish girls the team win.

"It's nice to have the first five runners because you don't have to wait to find out your team score," head coach Bill Brist said. "I figured that we'd have a good day when the lead group came by the first mile and it was eight Whitefish runners. I think that our lead group may have gotten the jump on a lot of other runners. I don't think they expected the pace to be that quick right off the line."

The Whitefish boys made it so close that race officials had to wait on the computer program to see if they came out on top.

After the official tabulation, the Whitefish boys were first with 41 points, one better than runner-up Columbia Falls and seven better than third-place Frenchtown. Libby rounded out the team scoring in fourth with 99 points.

"It's obvious that Columbia Falls and Frenchtown came to compete," Brist said. "They both did a great job of giving our guys a solid test. The fact that we could weather the storm and come out on top tells me a lot about this boys team. It helped having Drew up front in first place, but the real success story might be with Michael Samdahl charging by Columbia Falls' Michael Kruse in the final 30 meters."

Without that pass, the Bulldogs wouldn't have come out on top, Brist said.

"It also helped that Byron Bard, Marshall Opel and Dylan Rice finished in front of the Wildcats' fifth runner," Brist said. "It takes a meet like this to show how important displacers are in cross country."

Only the top-five runners on each team can produce a score, but the sixth and seventh runners can push back another team's scoring runners, he said.

"In effect these runners can add points to the other team's score," Brist said. "In cross country, it's not good to have a lot of points, as the lower the score the better the placing."

Coco took an early lead in the boys field and looked as if he was running the race by himself after about the first 30 seconds.

"That felt like one of the coldest races I've ever ran," Coco said after his course record run of 15:58.

"When your team wins by a single point, it means that you had contributions from every runner on the team," Brist said. "Whether you win by a single point or by 50 points, a win is still a win, even in cross country."

Freshman Jessica Sagen (20:52) and sophomore Hannah Weaver (21:31) both finished with personal best times to help the girls.

The next competition for the Bulldogs will be on Oct. 13 at the Northwestern A Conference Championships at the Silver Fox Golf Course in Pablo with the girls beginning at 2 p.m. and the boys beginning at 2:45 p.m.

Girls team scores:

1. Whitefish 15

2. Frenchtown 55

3. Columbia Falls 67

4. Libby 117

Girls individual results:

1. Loni Hanson 18:59

2. Lauren Kuennen 19:13

3. Clare Miller 19:19

4. Stella Holt 19:31

5. Bailey Eaton 19:36

8. Beth Donovan 20:00

9. Kelly Beiser 20:24

10. Carly Schwickert 20:26

15. Jessica Sagen 20:52

19. Hannah Weaver 21:31

27. Megan Shaver 22:20

28. Natalie Kearns 22:28

31. Anne Miller 22:50

32. Alexa Holliday 23:16

33. Mallory Phillips 23:38

34. Elizabeth Stevenson 23:38

35. Maggie Wilson 23:44

Boys team scores:

1. Whitefish 41

2. Columbia Falls 42

3. Frenchtown 48

4. Libby 99

Boys individual results:

1. Drew Coco 15:58

6. Erik Anderson 17:01

10. Patrick McGunagle 17:32

11. Michael Samdahl 17:36

13. Byron Bard 17:43

17. Marshall Opel 18:18

18. Dylan Rice 18:23

19. Michael Harrison 18:24

26. Baxter Graham 19:08

36. Tucker Chambers 21:41

40. Pierre Hilligot 22:18

41. Regaberto Peredes 22:35

42. Dietrich Perchy 22:44

43. Chris Reyna 22:53