Running in the Browning Invitational Saturday for the first time in many years, Blue Hawk harriers enjoyed the change of pace afforded by the new surroundings.

“We had a great day. It was nice to go down below Glacier where fall was starting to appear,” Thompson Falls cross country coach Sarah Naegeli said. “It was a very open, hilly course and our runners looked good.”

Looking perhaps the best of all the Hawks Saturday, sophomore Weston Block continued his outstanding season by running down a finishing time of 17:22 in leading the Hawk boys, winning fourth individually for his efforts. It was Weston’s second straight week of posting a personal best time this still-young season.

For the Blue Hawk girls, Lexi Franck ran a season-best time of 23:48 and finished 14th individually.

Other Hawk boys running in Browning were Nathan Baxter (21:23), Blake Shusterman (21:29) and Ethan Traver (21:40), and Maddy Zyromski (28:11) also competed for the Hawk girls.

Naegeli said the Hawks were goal-oriented last week. “Our high school runners were instructed to choose a challenge for this race, and work to meet it,” she said. “I'm not sure what they all set as their challenge, but they raced well. They were feeling the hills, but I saw determination and focus. Lexi had a great finish, moving up about 3 or 4 places in the last 400 meters.”

Next up for the Hawks is the prestigious Mountain West Invitational in Missoula Saturday, one of the biggest cross country meets of any season in Montana. As an added incentive, the State B meet later this fall will be held on this same course. Naegeli is excited about the possibilities.

“Our 8th graders will be racing with the high school team, so that will be exciting,” she said. “We've got some really talented junior high runners coming up in our program.”

Those junior high runners also competed in Browning Saturday, and Nolan Wilkes (fourth in 13:18), Wyatt Clawson (eighth in 14:33) and Christopher Toyias (24th in 16:44) finished the race for the boys.

Hartleigh Block led the Falls junior high girls in an impressive team performance, running down second place individually in 13:06, Libby Franck won third place in 13:14 and Gabby Taylor fourth in 14:46. Addie Anderson completed the course in 22:20 for the young Hawks.

Thompson Falls junior high coach Holly Franck was happy with her team in Browning. “Our junior high cross country team had a great day in Browning on Saturday, the girls team had three top 10 finishers,” she said. “The boys raced well too! We have been battling sickness this week so I am happy with their performance.”

Franck said the young Hawk girls in particular look like a strong high school team in the making and could be a strong State B contending squad in the upcoming years if all goes as planned.

    THOMPSON FALLS junior high runners Libby Franck (leading) and Hartleigh Block compete in Browning Saturday. All area runners will be participating in the Mountain West Invitational in Missoula this Saturday. (Courtesy photo)