A little of the hot stuff is all right, but cross-country runners really prefer the weather to be a little cooler. Especially when wildfire smoke is added into the running and breathing equation.

Overcoming that heat and smoke as best as they could, Thompson Falls cross country runners competed at the Flathead Invitational at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell Friday. Some of the Hawk runners even thrived in the less than ideal conditions.

“On a day where many athletes ran slower than last week, we had a PR and two season records,” Hawk coach Sarah Naegeli said. “Weston Block dropped almost 40 seconds off his previous best, and now has a new PR.”

Naegeli said that Block’s Rebecca Farm time of 17:23 ranks in the top 15 of all times in Blue Hawk harrier history, a significant accomplishment for the Hawk sophomore at this stage in his XC career.

In other newsworthy developments for the Hawks, Naegeli said “Lexi Franck ran almost a minute faster than last week, and Maddy Zyromski dropped about 50 seconds,” she said. “It's great to see these returning runners getting back into their XC competition form.”

Completing the team effort for the Hawk varsity boys, Nathan Baxter clocked out in 21:04, Blake Shusterman in 21:38 and Ethan Traver in 21:43.

With the girls varsity, Franck finished in 23:59 and Zyromski in 27:05

Naegeli said it was a rough training week for runners last week. “Between the heat, smoke, and more heat putting in the miles was a challenge,” she said. “They stepped up to push themselves at each workout this week, but we sure are looking forward to some more fall-like temperatures.”

The Hawks’ next meet is the Browning Invitational Saturday. “This is a new meet for us, with a few teams that we don't typically see during the season, and a new course,” Naegeli said. “It should be fun!”

Coached by Holly Franck, junior high runners also competed for Thompson Falls in Kalispell, and the girls finished an impressive fourth in the team race with Hartleigh Block

(third in 10:06 in the 1.5 mile race) and Libby Franck (seventh in 10:15) both finishing in the top ten individually.

Gabby Taylor (11:37), Shelby Harmon (11:56), Kalsin KcGuire (12:27) and Addie Anderson (18:31) also ran well on the Rebecca Farms course for the junior high girls.

With the junior high boys, Jonathan ran in first for the Hawks and 15th overall in 9:47, Wyatt Clawson was 24th in 9:59, Nolan Wilkes clocked 10:38 and Christopher Toyias 11:32.