THOMPSON FALLS – The Thompson Falls and Plains Cross country teams returned to Sanders County after a few weeks on the road for a meet at River’s Bend Golf Course in Thompson Falls last week.

The Thompson Falls Invitational helped kick off homecoming week for Thompson Falls High School and was held on Thursday, Oct, 2 with junior varsity races starting at 3 p.m. and varsity competitions wrapping up around 4 p.m.

The meet proved to be a successful one for the boys team from Thompson Falls who put together a score of 80 and finished second place in the meet.

Only the boys from Timberlake who scored a 54 placed in front of Thompson Falls.

Tanner Laws of Thompson Falls had a big day for the team finishing in second placed during the race with a time of 16:40.

Individuals on the Plains team also experienced significant success during the county meet with Russell Kujala of the Horsemen crossing the finish line first in the afternoon’s boys race.

Kujala took first with a time of 16:34.

For the Trotters both Kimberly Earhart and Demi Horton notched top ten finishes.

Earhart crossed the finish line with a time of 19:49; a personal best and Horton ended her race with a time of 19:58.

“Russell, Kimberly and Demi all continue to run very strongly as we move to the latter part of the season,” Plains Head Coach Tony Banovich said.

Shannon Dimond and Danika Whitcomb of the Trotters also had personal best’s in the race finishing at 22:07 and 23:49 respectively.

Banovich was pleased with how his team performed during the county meet and was excited to see their development throughout the fall season.

“It’s exciting to see how much the entire team has improved over the course of the fall season. They’re a great bunch of kids. It’s really been a pleasure to coach them this season and it’s such a pleasure to see them be rewarded for all of their hard work,” Banovich said.

Both teams will wrap up their regular season meet schedule at the Whitefish Invitational, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 11 at 11 a.m.

Following the Whitefish Invitational the teams from Plains and Thompson Falls will compete at the conference championship meet in Ronan.