Cross country does well at crowded Flathead Invite

The Columbia Falls cross country teams had a good showing at the Flathead Invitational on Friday at Rebecca Farm.

The boys took third among class A schools, the girls were second.

Ashley Andrews led the girls with a 24th place finish and a time 20:54. Ally Sempf was 49th with a time of 21:54. Marissa Schaeffer had a nice race, right behind Sempf with a 21:55:75 and freshman Cora Hannan was 74th with a 22:57, while Mya Badger was right behind her with a 22:57.

The top A school for the girls was Corvallis.

Lucas “Hoot” Peterson was the top runner for the boys, taking 74th in a crowded field that featured the top runners in the state among all classes.

He clocked a 18:05.

Quinn Clark was 85th with a 18:24 and Logan Peterson was 86th with a 18:25.

Browning was the top A school at the meet for the boys.

The team travels to Cut Bank for time trials this week.

“I’m happy with what the kids did. It was a big field of runners. It was really hot by the time they raced too, and they did well. Ashley Andrews, in particular, had a good race plan and executed it really well to finish first for our girls in a personal best time,” coach Jim Peacock said. He also noted that Sempf and Schaeffer ran solid races as well and the boys did a good job of finding each other and pulling through the tougher sections of the course, which will host the state meet later this year.