The Whitefish girls cross country team placed 35th out of 55 teams at the massive, multi-state Mountain West Invite in Missoula last weekend. The boys team landed 39th out of 59.  

Whitefish sophomore Kendall Dye led the Bulldogs, placing 107th overall in a time of 21 minutes, 25.3 seconds. Senior Sophie Douglas was the next Whitefish finisher, taking 184th place in 22:41.8, followed by senior Sierra Gibb in 227th with a time of 23:15.6. Freshman Elsie Snipes placed 243rd in 23:26.9, while freshman K. Boyd finished 251st in 23:33.3 to round out Whitefish's top five scorers. Freshman Marin Gignoux crossed the line in 24:03.2 to place 294th, and freshman Emelia Bryant finished 334th in 24:41.0. 

Whitefish freshman Porter Shehan turned in the Bulldogs' top performance, placing 27th overall with a blazing time of 16 minutes, 40.4 seconds. Junior Peter Schram finished 246th in 19:10.1, while senior Ean Flynn crossed the line in 19:26.2 to place 274th. Junior Alexander Keim recorded a personal-best time of 19:36.7, finishing 298th overall. Freshman Cooper Connelly rounded out Whitefish's top five runners, placing 321st in 19:59.0. Junior Mason Loeffler added a 396th-place finish in 21:24.5, and junior Luca Gignoux placed 404th in 21:41.2. 

The large meet was a great opportunity to build experience as the Bulldogs return to smaller fields this week. The runners have back-to-back races with the Thompson Falls Invite on Friday and then the sole home meet of the season, the Whitefish Invite, at the Whitefish Lake Golf Course on Tuesday at 2 p.m.