The Daily Inter Lake

FHS cross country boys win, girls take second at Libby invite

LIBBY - The Flathead High School boys cross country team dominated the hot Libby Invitational Friday and had it not been for Sandpoint, Idaho, FHS would have gotten the invite sweep.

Seth Grossman, Carl Nystuen, Seth Svennungsen, Justin Barth and Dan Howell all placed in the top eight for the Braves and the team outscored second-place Sandpoint, 92-22.

Alec Surynt and Danny Burfiend both placed in the top 15 for the Braves in the 12-team event, but didn't score the team.

Grossman won with a time of 15 minutes, 37 seconds.

"That's pretty good," Flathead coach Paul Jorgensen said. "Last year's winning time at the event was a 15:48. (Grossman) even took a wrong turn in there somewhere and that probably added five to 10 seconds. That sometimes happens in cross country."

Howell was the No. 5 finisher for FHS 1:15 behind Grossman.

"We like to look at the one through five splits and that is really good for the first meet of the year," Jorgensen said. "We try to get it under a minute, but it is early."

The Whitefish boys took third place, just six points behind Sandpoint. Polson's Logan Torgison placed third and was the best Class A finisher.

"There was really good competition," Jorgensen said. "Polson, Whitefish, Ronan and Sandpoint really pushed us."

The Whitefish firls took fourth with 98 points.

"That was a bit of a surprise," WHS coach Bill Brist said. "We didn't have some of our top runners running, so it showed how good our runners that did run did."

Jorgensen said the FHS junior varsity boys swept the top five spots.

On the girls side of the event, Flathead (61) and Ronan (76) placed second and third, respectively, behind Sandpoint's 42 points. Whitefish finished fourth with 90 points.

"It was a good day for us," Brist said. "I'm not overjoyed, but I'm happy. We have 51 runners on the team, of which I had 32 run here. When we get 51 runners, I will be overjoyed."

Ronan's Terinee McCready placed third and was the best Montana girl finisher. Flathead's Tera Klein placed fourth with teammate Elysia Andrews finishing fifth.

"Klein ran well," Jorgensen said. "Andrews was running a little tentative because she suffered through dehydration after the time trials and it took her awhile to get over it so she was a little worried about that."

BOYS

Team scores: Flathead 22, Sandpoint 92, Whitefish 98, Polson 124, Columbia Falls 129, Thompson Falls 136, Ronan 198, Libby 214, Bonners Ferry 256. Also competing: Eureka, Kellogg, Plains.

Top 25 individuals

1, Seth Grossman, Flt, 15:37; 2, Carl Nystuen, Flt, 15:56; 3, Logan Torgison, Pol, 16:02; 4, Ian Mallams, Whf, 16:04; 5, Seth Svennungsen, Flt, 16:24; 6, Justin Barth, Flt, 16:34; 7, Shane Donaldson, TF, 16:43; 8, Dan Howell, Flt, 16:52; 9, Alec Surynt, Flt, 16:59; 10, Steve Teran, Spt, 17:04; 11, Brian Merseal, CF, 17:06; 12, Jacob Naegeli, TF, 17:08; 13, A. Mitchell, Spt, 17:09; 14, D. Householter, Spt, 17:14; 15, D. Burfeind, Flt, 17:35.

16, C. Ogle, Pol 17:45; 17, C. Barber, Ron 18:00; 18, J. Fern, Whf 18:07; 19, T. Gimbel, Columbia Falls 18:07; 20, J. Alexander, Whf 18:07; 21, B. Bjornson, Whf 18:08; 22, R. Sayers, Bfk 18:18; 23, R. Sol, TF 18:18; 24, Z. Smith, Spt 18:19; 25, S. Wright, Lib 18:20.

GIRLS

Team scores: Sandpoint 42, Flathead 61, Ronan 76, Whitefish 90, Bonners Ferry 140, Polson 147, Kellogg 209, Columbia Falls 214, Eureka 242, Libby 282. Also competing: Bigfork, Thompson Falls.

Top 25 individuals

1, Megan Bartlett, Spt, 19:09; 2, Kathleen Vardell, Spt, 19:16; 3, Terinee McCready, Ron, 19:17; 4, Tera Klein, Flt, 19:30; 5, Elysia Andrews, Flt, 19:35; 6, Beth Donovan, Whf, 20:04; 7, Sadie McMillan, Ron, 20:10' 8, Tanna Bull, Pol, 20:18; 9, Kaneesha Benson, Ron, 20:30; 10, Meadow Braden, BF, 20:33; 11, T. Schiltz, Bfk, 20:36; 12, R. Johnson, Spt, 20:44; 13, C. Miller, Spt, 20:47; 14, V. Vardell, Spt, 20:50; 15, Andrea Yager, Flt, 20:54.

16, L. Kuennen, Whf 21:00; 17, C. Miller, Whf 1:01; 18, K. Barth, Flt 21:07; 19, K. Byle, Flt 21:12; 20, A. Miller, Spt 21:21; 21, C. Hampton, Bfk 21:23; 22, L. Fox, Flt 21:24; 23, B. Ori, Flt 21:37; 24, B. Malmquist, Ron 21:44; 25, J. Rozar, Whf 21:47.