Harriers bring home divisional title

Whitefish’s boys cross country team

used a balanced performance to wrap up their second consecutive

Northwestern A divisional title Oct. 15 at Polson. Each of their

top five runners placed in the top 20, led by second and fourth

place finishes from Fischer Gangemi and Jace Kalbfleisch.

“The boys team did a great job of

competing within a tough field of runners,” Whitefish coach Bill

Brist said. “It was a great battle and we were fortunate to come

out on top. Polson and Columbia Falls both have really strong teams

this season. Winning the conference title was a major goal of ours,

and I know that our boys were happy to achieve it.”

Gangemi posted a 17:04, just ahead of

teammate Kalbfleisch who scored a 17:08. Both earned All Conference

honors.

“Fischer Gangemi and Jace Kalbfleisch

ran very well,” Brist said. “They worked their way through the lead

group. With the strong finish up front, we had an edge in the team

scoring as all the teams were similar in strength in the main part

of the pack.”

Will Holdhusen took 12th overall

(17:59), Keaton Grove was 16th (18:09) and Elias Taylor was 18th

(18:11).

“Will had a nice race,” Brist said. “It

was his best race of the season. I was impressed with his ability

to work his way up through the pack on the tough course.”

“Keaton Grove, Elias Taylor and Thomas

Henson were just behind him to give us what we needed to finish in

first place as a team.”

Brist commended sophomore Caleb Knox,

who posted an 18:38.

“Caleb Knox had a fantastic race to

earn his spot on the state team,” he said. “He’s been coming on

strong at the end of the season. He just edged out Waylon Roberts

and Brandon Maassen for that final racing spot for the upcoming

state meet team.”

The Lady Bulldogs team ended up in

third place, snapping their streak of five consecutive divisional

titles. They finished behind champion Polson and Columbia

Falls.

“We were hoping to compete for the

overall title, but just didn’t have the race we needed to come out

on top,” Brist said. “I felt the girls still ran very well, on a

real tough course, but Polson and Columbia Falls did a great job to

finish ahead of us.”

Nicole Brist (21:09) and Maya Gordon

(21:14) led the effort with fifth and sixth place finishes. They

both earned All-Conference honors.

“Nicole went out after the leader and

it probably cost her in the final placings, but I was happy to see

her take a chance to compete with the best,” Brist said. “She held

on pretty well. Those runners in front of her are all great

runners.”

“Maya had the race of the meet. She has

improved a ton this season. Last year she was 20th at this meet.

She dedicated herself to running a lot since then, including a

solid summer of running, and that has really paid off for her. I’m

very proud of everything that she has accomplished. She’s a great

example to our entire team.”

Peyton Twete (22:23), Emma Marchetti

(22:33) and Rebecca Holdhusen (22:41) rounded out the top five for

Whitefish.

Autumn Fisher and Torrey Coe placed in

the top 20 overall and will also compete at the state meet at

Missoula this weekend.

“The final meet of the season is the

one that we want to run our absolute best in,” Brist said. “It’s

our goal to have all of our runners to run their best on that one

day. The competition this year for both the boys and girls is

especially tough.”

He said it’s hard to predict how well

Whitefish will finish.

“Last year, we had a lot of success

finishing first for the girls and second for the boys,” he said.

“I’m not sure if we can reach those levels this year. We want to

compete at our best and see how we stack up with the rest of the

teams in the state. If we run at our best, as a coach, I’ll be

happy with our results.”