THOMPSON FALLS – Sunny and warm in the morning, becoming cloudy and cooler in the afternoon. Simply put, the cooperating weather presented the best running conditions any harrier could ask for, and coincided perfectly with the race schedule.

Competing in near ideal weather conditions at sunny then-cloudy River’s Bend golf course outside of Thompson Falls, the Blue Hawks hosted the 2026 Thompson Falls Invitational cross country meet Friday and over 400 runners from most of the Class A, B and C teams in western Montana competed in the long-running event.

The organizer, the driving force behind this event for many years, Hawk head coach Sarah Naegeli was grateful for a few things afterwards. “The weather was great, sunny and warming in the morning for the junior high and then cloudy and cooler for the later varsity races,” she said. “The meet went very well. We are very thankful for all the volunteers who help run the meet, and to River’s Bend for being so accommodating and gracious as to let us host it every year.”

Audrey Fairbank and Weston Block led Thompson Falls in the meet, with Fairbank winning third in the girls varsity race (in 20:38.5) and Block sixth (17:23.9) in the boys varsity.

The only other Falls girl in the varsity race, senior Aubrey Baxter also ran well, timing out in 22:39.5 for 21st place.

Caleb McCray (19:06.0), Nathan Baxter (20:04.7) and the steadily-improving Zachary Botz (24:07.7) rounded out the varsity boys’ efforts in the Thompson Falls Invite. Naegeli said Botz knocked over 20 seconds off his previous best time Friday.

Entering the stretch run of the cross country campaign, Naegeli and crew have a short turnaround on races this week as they will attend the Whitefish Invite Tuesday. “It will be interesting to see how we react,” she said.

A first-year sophomore, Fairbank impressed her coach with her fine effort on River’s Bend.

“Audrey looked very strong, she is just such a natural runner,” Naegeli said. “We are very excited about her potential. Aubrey also ran very well, those two are just an absolute joy to coach.” The two Lady Hawks are also both starters on the Thompson Falls volleyball team.

A fourth-year junior, Block also continues to impress his coach with his powerful running. A State B-C medal winner several times over in wrestling, Block is much more powerfully built than most cross country runners, and has a powerful stride to match that physique. “Weston is just so competitive,” she said. “He’s not built like your typical runner but don’t let his looks fool you. He runs to win.”

In the middle school races, Hartleigh Block won fourth place in the shorter race in 13:58.6 to pace the Hawk girls, Cooper Lilly won 23rd in 15:12.4, Reaghan Kenney 44th (16:45.3), Elora Moore 60th (17:27.7) and Serenity Boddy 89th in 19:06.5.

The Hawk girls placed seventh in team scoring with Class A schools Corvallis, Libby and Bigfork finishing first through third.

Rhett Franklin (31st in 14:27.5), Maxwell Hart (48th in 15:14.0) and Alec Cribbs (49th in 15:16.3) ran for the Hawk boys in the middle school races.

Columbia Falls won the varsity boys team title, Ronan placed second and Florence third, and Libby claimed the girls championship, Whitefish took second and Columbia Falls third.

Cord Greer of Plains won the boys individual race in 16:06.4 and Capri Farmer of Libby won the girls varsity race in 18:55.9.

A total of 418 harriers ran for time Friday with 136 girls in the middle school race, 126 in the boys middle school event, 94 with the varsity boys, and 62 with the varsity girls.

    HARD-CHARGING WESTON BLOCK (left) of Thompson Falls looks to get past a Whitefish harrier during action in the Thompson Falls Invitational at River’s Bend last Friday. Block went on to win sixth place in the boys varsity race. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)