C-Falls boys second, girls third in X-C at Pablo
Justin Whitman sprints to the finish line during the Ronan Invitational on Saturday. (Lake County Leader photo)
Columbia Falls finished second in varsity boys cross country competition and third in the girls division at the Ronan Invitational on Saturday in Pablo. Flathead High took team honors in both divisions. The Wildcats had the top four finishers among Class A boys runners.
Flathead went 1-2-3 while dominating varsity boys, scoring 21 points. C-Falls had 44, Whitefish 96 and Ronan 105. In varsity girls, Flathead had 35, Whitefish 36, C-Falls 66 and Ronan 123.
Shawn Whitman led the Wildcat boys, running to fourth place in 16:33. That was five seconds faster than teammate Patric Jessat, who was fifth. Justin Whitman finished eighth (17:22). Pascal Jessat came in 11th (17:49). They went 1-2-3-4 among Class A runners.
C-Falls coach Richard Menicke said Pascal Jessat 'stepped up this race," dropping his season-best time. "His role as our No. 4 of No. 5 runner is very important," the coach said.
Joe Gross was 16th (18:17) and Tim Spencer 31st (20:58) in varsity boys.
Menicke rested Derrick Williams to let an injury heal. It's hoped he'll run at the Mountain West meet Saturday in Missoula.
Jacob Silva led the Wildcat JV boys, finishing 16th (20:19). Michael Williams was 21st (20:51), Ben Burgess 23rd (21:30), Travis Province 25th (21:54) and Alex Peterson 40th (27:32).
Nikki Moser was a top-10 finisher for the C-Falls girls at Pablo. She was 10th in 21:27. Jinise Osborne ran to 12th place (21:37), Leesa Benner was 13th (21:38) and Madison Stolte 13th (21:38). Cami Casazza came in 17th (22:39), Tessa Cowan tied for 18th (23:08) and Alexas Young was 22nd (23:44).
"We had a very nice pack of four girls in the varsity race," Menicke said, all running under 22 minutes. "It was nice to see Madison Stolte join the front-runners this week. She belongs up there."
Kaylin Carvey paced the C-Falls JV girls, finishing second (22:22). Menicke said she led until the end of the race. "It was a good race learning experience for this fast freshman," he said.
Dezi Brunz was 12th (24:48), Caroline Hansford 13th (24:49) and Lucy Kaplanova 14th (24:52) with season-best times. Tami Kolatschek was 17th (25:26), Kaylee Gray 19th (25:40) and Ashley Palmer 29th (29:21).