Girls, boys look good at Libby Invite x-country

Hungry Horse News

The Columbia Falls girls took fourth and the boys took fifth at the Libby Invitational meet Friday to open the cross-country season.

Mya Badger led the girls team taking sixth 6th in 20:39. That is a personal best, coach Jim Peacock noted.

Marissa Schaeffer was close behind her, and gained ground on the leaders through the second half of the race by pacing very well early.  She took 11th, running 21:00.  Early in the race, Cora Hannan ran near Mya early in the race, holding onto the lead pack.  She dropped back a little in the middle part of the race, but regrouped to finish 16th in 21:11.  Chloe Savoy, who did a great job logging summer miles, really showed how strong she has become.  Her 23rd place finish in 21:53 was really big for her team’s score, Peacock said.

The boys ran solid as well.

“Typical of a first race, most of our kids took the race out a little fast in the first mile and then got to suffer through the next two, but they still kept their heads in their races and ran strong,” Peacock said. 

 River Blazejewski led the team.  His 16:55 was a personal best time, and it was good for 15th place.  He was followed by Oliver Kress, 32nd, and Griffin LaRoque, 36th.  The rest of our varsity boys finished in a cluster not far behind.  Also of note, Hoot Peterson comfortably won the JV race in a time of 17:16, almost a minute ahead of the next runner.  

“Hoot has definitely earned his varsity spot for our next race,” Peacock said.

“Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better performance for the first meet.  Our teams were extremely competitive, and this is a group with positive attitudes.  They’re very coachable.  We have room for growth, and from what I’ve seen of them in the first couple weeks of the season, they will absolutely pursue that growth.  As they sit right now, I’m hopeful they just proved to themselves that they will be competitive in the state this season,” Peacock said.

Next meet is the Flathead Invitational at Rebecca Farms in Kalispell on Friday.  Races start at 11 a.m..  This is looking like it will be a very well attended meet, and it will have many of the top programs in the state in both AA and A.