Loggers battle it out on Whitefish turf

Whitefish swept the event in both the boys and girls teams during the Whitefish Invite on Oct. 6.

The Whitefish girls team took places 1-5 for the lowest score possible in a cross country event. a 15. They will be the favorites to win the state championship.

In both the boys and girls races, the Libby Loggers took fourth place.

In terms of the Libby girls, Shantell McLinden and Rachel Morrow battled it out for 24th and 26th respectively. Their times were 21:59 and 22:00, there was a Columbia Falls girl sandwiched in between them at the finish. These times will put them in a great place to beat their state and divisional times of last year.

Throughout the year, McLinden has been a bit faster than Morrow and it is nice to see Morrow catch up. They will be pushing each other the rest of the year, which is great. These two are really good friends so we should see some great improvement out of both of them in the next 12 days leading up to state.

Rounding out the girls was Cassi Moog with a 24:56 for 36th place and Ariel Wooden with a 25:29 at 38th and Sami Freebury with a 25:35 for 39th.

"I see great improvement among these two girls as well heading towards the divisional meet, and on to state," coach Jasper Howell said.

There were 45 boys, Brandon Pucket took 9th with a 17:30, Seth Wright took 15th with 18:12, Kyle Sweedman took 28th with a time of 19:14, Cody Elliott 30th 19:52 and Chris Beeks 20:33 good for 33rd. The always beard sporting and hard working Hunter Sheffield has gone from running in the 26s early last year to his 21:22 at 35th place.

At 37th and 38th respectively Ben Elliott and David Combs finished with 21:45s, followed by Lucas Puckett in his only race of the year with a 23:34 at 44th.

"I hope to see all the hard work these guys have put in pay dividends in the next two weeks," Howell said. "I would like to see Seth shave a minute off this time, and see Brandon inch toward the 17 minute mark. Senior Homecoming King Chris Beeks has consistently chopped minutes off his time all season, and I can't wait to see him in the 19s by year end."

Kyle has been consistent all year and hopefully his hard work pays off and he'll be seen in the 18s. Fellow sophomore Cody Elliott has been a pleasant surprise, as well and should have two more great years perhaps becoming a top notch runner in the Northwest A division.