From one of the biggest annual cross country meets in Montana to the biggest meet in Sanders County, all in the space of less than a week.

The Thompson Falls cross country team, fresh off an appearance at the Mountain West Invitational in Missoula Saturday will host their annual Thompson Falls Invite at River’s Bend golf course Friday.

The difference between the two races is a matter of scale.

The Mountain West featured over 2,600 runners from several states Saturday running in six separate races, while the Thompson Falls meet will feature more like 400 runners total in four races.

Maybe because of its relatively small number of competitors and the beautiful surroundings and forgiving turf of River’s Bend, Thompson Falls coach Sarah Naegeli says that the Falls meet has become a favorite for Class A, B and C teams from around northwest Montana.

“The other schools like it and look forward to coming here every year,” Naegeli said. "And we look forward to hosting it, it’s become a pretty big part of the season for us.”

The Hawks ran well in the Mountain West Saturday. Naegeli was surprised by the fact that although it was cool and cloudy in Missoula for the big meet, it was sunny and hot in Thompson Falls upon the team’s return later that day.

Taking advantage of the cooler weather and running in the boys varsity race, Weston Block turned in the best time by any Hawk in the meet, running the 5K course in 18:01. Caleb McCray and Nathan Baxter also ran well for the Hawk boys in that race, finishing in 19:02.2 and 20:40.5, respectively.

In the JV girls race, Audrey Fairbank finished fourth among 366 runners in 21:04.2 and Aubrey Baxter was 56th in 2345.3. Zach Botz (25:19.1) and Carter Robinson (26:00.5) ran in the boys JV race for Thompson Falls.

As has been the case several times this season, the middle school girls were the stars of the show, the highlight of the meet for Thompson Falls as, among some very large schools, the Hawks finished an impressive eighth place in team scoring.

Neala Block (9:02.2) led the Hawk girls in, her sister Hartleigh Block (9:18.8) wasn’t far behind, and Cooper Lilly (9:49.1) , Reaghan Kenney (10:44.5) and Elora Moore (11:11.8) followed.

Rhett Franklin (9:31.2), Alec Cribbs (10:112.0) and Abram Cribbs (10:13.3) ran in the Mountain West boys middle school race for Thompson Falls.