WHS runners dominate quad
The Daily Inter Lake
WHITEFISH - The top times and best scores were turned in by Whitefish on Saturday at the Whitefish Quadrangular cross country meet.
Drew Coco, 15:58, and Loni Hanson, 18:59, were the individual winners.
On the team front, Whitefish claimed both titles.
"It was great the boys and girls could run well and come away with some positives going into divisionals (next weekend)," WHS coach Bill Brist said.
"I think we did that on both sides (boys and girls)."
Coco was the lone runner to break 16 minutes and Hanson the only girl to break 19 minutes.
Coco averaged 5:19 per mile and Hanson 6:19.
Hanson led a 1-2-3-4-5 finish for Whitefish. That gave the Bulldogs 15 points, a perfect score, on the team front.
"Our runners are aggressive, quick, always up front," Brist said.
"That was pretty good for us."
Frenchtown, 55, was second, Columbia Falls, 67, third and Libby, 117, fourth.
Whitefish's Lauren Kuennen was second, 19:13, with Clare Miller third, 19:19, Stella Holt fourth, 19:31, and Bailey Eaton fifth, 19:36.
Only 37 seconds separated Whitefish's front runner from its No. 5 runner.
"Loni Hanson went under 19 minutes for the second week in a row," Brist said.
"Lauren ran a personal best (time). Clare Miller had a personal best by 21 seconds. The big thing about that, she (Miller) ran up there with our top two. That was pretty special."
Coco led a strong showing for the WHS boys as five runners placed in the top 13.
"He's been under 16 (minutes) quite a bit," Brist said.
"The big thing was, he is not used to going out on his own. There are always good runners to run with. This time he had to do it all by himself. It was a good education for him."
Whitefish's Erik Anderson was sixth, 17:01, Pat McGunagle 10th, 17:32, Michael Samdahl 11th, 17:36, and Byron Bard 13th, 17:43.
Whitefish, 41, edged Columbia Falls for the team title by a single point.
Frenchtown was third, 48, and Libby fourth, 99.
"It was a pretty close affair," Brist said.
"It could have gone either way. Columbia Falls ran pretty well, Frenchtown ran pretty well."
Columbia Falls coach Steve Gasche was very satisfied with the performance of his boys and girls.
"Our kids ran way above their heads today," he said.
"We had by far our best meet of the season."
Gasche said six of his seven girls charted either season best or career best times while all seven of his boys did so.
Two runners had "a historic day," Gasche said.
Shawn Whitman, second overall with a time of 16:21, posted the fastest time in school history for sophomores. That broke the old mark of 16:33 set by Camas Key in 1994.
Whitman's time is also the fifth fastest, all classes, in school history.
Nicki Moser, 19:39, finished sixth overall. Her time breaks the school's freshman record of 20:31, which was held by Allsyon Tarr and set in 1998.
Moser's time is also the third fastest in school history.
"All in all, we definitely turned the corner today," Gasche said.
"We're excited abour our prospects down the road."
Gasche said this was the first meet where three boys ran under 17 minutes.
Tripp Gimble, 16:52, was fourth and Patric Jessat, 16:55, fifth.
"That was an exciting development," Gasche said.
"A good confidence builder for us being a week away from divisional and two weeks away from state."
Boys
Team Totals
Whitefish 41, Columbia Falls 42, Frenchtown 48, Libby 99
Top 15
Drew Coco, Whitefish 15:58
Shawn Whitman, Columbia Falls 16:21
Tyler Normand, Frenchtown 16:40
Tripp Gimbel, Columbia Falls 16:52
Patric Jessat, Columbia Falls 16:55
Erik Anderson, Whitefish 17:01
Richie Bick, Frenchtown 17:07
Clay Armstrong, Frenchtown 17:24
Brandon Puckett, Libby 17:30
Pat McGunagle, Whitefish 17:32
Michael Samdahl, Whitefish 17:36
Michael Kruse, Columbia Falls 17:36
Byron Bard, Whitefish 17:43
Carson Hochhalter, Frenchtown 18:11
Seth Wright, Libby 18:12
Girls
Team Totals
Whitefish 15, Frenchtown 55, Columbia Falls 67, Libby 117
Top 15
Loni Hanson, Whitefish 18:59
Lauren Kuennen, Whitefish 19:13
Clare Miller, Whitefish 19:19
Stella Holt, Whitefish 19:31
Bailey Eaton, Whitefish 19:36
Nicki Moser, Columbia Falls 19:39
Shanna Burke, Frenchtown 19:52
Beth Donovan, Whitefish 20:00
Kelly Beiser, Whitefish 20:24
Carly Schwickert, Whitefish 20:26
Erin Maxted, Frenchtown 20:29
Angela Scheffer, Frenchtown 20:42
Tessa Cowan, Columbia Falls 20:48
Caitlin Amundsen, Frenchtown 20:51
Jessica Sagen, Whitefish 20:52
Polson Invitational
POLSON - Logan Torgison and Kayla Carlson of Bigfork took individual titles at the eight-team event.
Torgison was the only runner under 16 minutes with a time of 15:57.
Carlson was the only runner under 19 minutes with her winning time of 18:48.
Hamilton won the boys' and girls' titles.
BOYS
Team scores: Hamilton 136, Thompson Falls 133, Polson 112, Ronan 96, Plains 51, Eureka 44, Bigfork 42, Two Eagle River 5.
Top 10 individuals
1, Logan Torgison, Polson, 15:57; 2, Ben Jessop, Hamilton, 16:13; 3, Shane Donaldson, Thompson Falls, 16:22; 4, Jake Jessop, Hamilton, 16:38; 5, Jacob Naegeli, Thompson Falls, 16:44; 6, Ian Curtiss, Hamilton, 17:03; 7, Joe Clark, Hamilton, 17:10; 8, Mike Morris, Thompson Falls, 17:16; 9, Danny Beavers, Ronan, 17:19; 10, Wyatt Lawrence, Hamilton, 17:41.
GIRLS
Team scores: Hamilton 109, Ronan 86, Polson 79, Thompson Falls 55, Eureka 35, Bigfork 32, Plains 15.
Top 10 individuals
1, Kayla Carlson, Bigfork, 18:48; 2, Tori Porcella, Hamilton, 19:46; 3, Danica Louks, Hamilton, 19:58; 4, Sierra Pete, Polson, 20:01; 5, Terinee McCready, Ronan, 20:04; 6, Mesa Starkey, Polson, 20:04; 7, Sadie McMillan, Ronan, 20:23; 8, Franki Romano, Hamilton, 20:40; 9, Maureen Palurisheim, Hamilton, 20:56; 10, Beca Gunderson, Thompson Falls, 21:05.