Here's the quick information. Comments later, after a nap: Girls Team Scores: 1. Whitefish 15 2. Frenchtown 55 3. Columbia Falls 67 4. Libby 117 Girls Individual Results: 1. Loni Hanson Whitefish 18:59 2. Lauren Kuennen Whitefish 19:13 3. Clare Miller Whitefish 19:19 4. Stella Holt Whitefish 19:31 5. Bailey Eaton Whitefish 19:36 8. Beth Donovan Whitefish 20:00 9. Kelly Beiser Whitefish 20:24 10.Carly Schwickert Whitefish 20:26 15.Jessica Sagen Whitefish 20:52 19.Hannah Weaver Whitefish 21:31 27.Megan Shaver Whitefish 22:20 28.Natalie Kearns Whitefish 22:28 31.Anne Miller Whitefish 22:50 32.Alexa Holliday Whitefish 23:16 33.Mallory Phillips Whitefish 23:38 34.Elizabeth Stevenson Whitefish 23:38 35.Maggie Wilson Whitefish 23:44 Boys Team Scores: 1. Whitefish 41 2. Columbia Falls 42 3. Frenchtown 48 4. Libby 99 Boys Individual Results: 1. Drew Coco Whitefish 15:58 6. Erik Anderson Whitefish 17:01 10.Patrick McGunagle Whitefish 17:32 11.Michael Samdahl Whitefish 17:36 13.Byron Bard Whitefish 17:43 17.Marshall Opel Whitefish 18:18 18.Dylan Rice Whitefish 18:23 19.Michael Harrison Whitefish 18:24 26.Baxter Graham Whitefish 19:08 36.Tucker Chambers Whitefish 21:41 40.Pierre Hilligot Whitefish 22:18 41.Regaberto Peredes Whitefish 22:35 42.Dietrich Perchy Whitefish 22:44 43. Chris Reyna Whitefish 22:53 Comments: It’s always nice to race at home in front of a supportive crowd. It’s nice if you can pull off a victory in front of that home crowd. The Whitefish boys made it so close that we had to wait on the computer program to see if they came out on top. After the official tabulation of the results we could finally be pleased. Whitefish had 41 points, one better than runner-up Columbia Falls, and seven better than third place Frenchtown. Libby rounded out the team scoring in fourth with 99 points. “It’s obvious that Columbia Falls and Frenchtown came to compete. They both did a great job of giving our guys a solid test. The fact that we could weather the storm and come out on top tells me a lot about this boys team. It helped having Drew up front in 1st place (15:58 course record), but the real success story might be with Michael Samdahl charging by Columbia Falls’ Michael Kruse in the final thirty meters.” “Without that pass, we don’t come out on top. It also helped that Byron Bard, Marshall Opel and Dylan Rice finished in front of The Wildcats’ fifth runner. It takes a meet like this to show how important displacers are in cross country. Only the top five runners on each team can produce a score, but the sixth and seventh runners can push back another teams scoring runners. In effect these runners can add points to the other teams score. In cross country it’s not good to have a lot of points, as the lower the score, the better the placing.” “When your team wins by a single point, it means that you had a contributions from every runner on the team. Whether you win by a single point, or by fifty points, a win is still a win, even in cross country.” For the girls it was another fantastic finish. Led by Loni Hanson’s course record victory (18:59) the Lady Bulldogs pulled off another perfect score of 15 against a good field. Lauren Kuennen (19:13), Clare Miller (19:19), Stella Holt (19:31) and Bailey Eaton swept the second through fifth places to give the Whitefish team the team win. “It’s nice to have the first five runners because you don’t have to wait to find out your team score. I figured that we’d have a good day when the lead group came by the first mile and it was eight Whitefish runners. I think that our lead group may have gotten the jump on a lot of other runners. I don’t think they expected the pace to be that quick right off the line. These eight held it together well as they all finished in the top ten.” “Although I was impressed by all of these runners, it may have been our ninth and tenth runners that impressed me the most. Freshman Jessica Sagen had a huge day with her time of 20:52. That’s a personal best by nearly a minute, and it’s a great time. Sophomore Hannah Weaver finished in 19th place with a time of 21:31. That’s the first time she’s run under 22 minutes. I love the fact that we have so many runners in the 19's, but it all begins with performances like those of Jessica and Hannah. We have a great team this year, and it goes all the way back to runner number 17 today. We had Seventeen young ladies racing today, and seventeen fantastic finishes. What a great sport.” The next competition for the Bulldogs will be the Northwestern A Conference Championships held on Pablo’s Silver Fox Golf Course with the Girls race beginning at 2 p.m. and the boys race beginning at 2:45 p.m. “At the beginning of the season our boys team looked to be the favorite, but the other teams have improved quite a bit since then. We’ll have to run our best to come out on top with teams like Columbia Falls, Polson and Ronan running as well as they are right now.” “For the girls, we have to run against the defending state champions on their home course. That’s never the best situation. I don’t believe we’re going to come away with a perfect score in this next meet. In addition to a tough Ronan team, Polson has a very competitive team, as well. Bigfork and Columbia Falls both have some top quality performers. It will be a great test prior to the State Championship meet to be held in Helena on October 20th.”