RONAN - It was a series of firsts at the Ronan Canal Bank meet as it was not only the first action of the season for cross country teams, but also the first meet ever for the Mission High School team.

"That's the beauty of it," Mission head coach Patrick Murphy said. "Everybody set their personal records just due to the fact that it's their first meet. Now we have a starting point."

And what a starting point it was. Junior Ashley Courville finished in second with a 21:30 time followed by Ronan junior Ashley Grandchamp in fourth with a time of 23:05. Courville also plays on the Mission volleyball team.

"That's a pretty impressive finish," Murphy said. "All of the girls really impressed me."

Mission had several girl runners finish in the top 20. Junior Jane Makepeace was ninth with a time of 24:28, junior Rose Bear Don't Walk finished tenth at 24:45, senior LaGlen Mitchell was 15th at 25:32, freshman Robyn Mitchell was 18th with 25:41. For Ronan, junior Rachel Hardy finished 20th with a time of 25:56.

"It's a good course to start with," Ronan head coach Gale Decker said. "Kids usually run a good time on it."

Decker said that the canal run near Ronan is relatively flat and in the shade, helping ease the runners into the season. In the boy's run, Ronan finished second with a team score of 49. The Chiefs had six runners finish in the top 20.

Senior Kevin Wroblewski finished second with a time of 17:54 and junior Cody Johnson finished fifth with 18:35. Sophomore Danny Romero finished seventh at 18:43, senior Jason Taylor finished 17th at 19:34, senior Jordan Franklin was 18th with 20:03 and Ed Dupuis was 20th with a time of 20:18.

"We have eight or nine boys that are going to be battling for the top five and seven spots," Decker said.

From Mission, sophomore Paden Alexander was fourth with a time of 18:14, while senior Bryan Schock was eighth at 18:44.

"I think a lot of the [other] coaches were impressed with out our kids did," Murphy said. "The name of the game is improving from here on out and keep working hard."

For Ronan, it's the Kalispell Invitational on Saturday. Mission will head to Eureka on Fridayand the Arlee cross country team will also be at that meet.