Cross country team runs through Thompson Falls

The Libby Loggers cross-country track team ran their way through the Thompson Falls Invitational last week, after initially canceling the meet due to smoke.

Coach Rod Tempel said the team wasn’t going to make the journey because the air quality was too dangerous for strenuous activity, but as the air cleared they made the decision to compete.

“We left for the meet about an hour and a half later than scheduled, because of smoke clearing,” Tempel said. “We called the meet off and then decided to go when the count went down in Thompson Falls. This kind of put the bus barn in a pickle as they had to find a driver at the last minute, but as usual Harlow’s came through for us.”

Libby’s girls finished in stronger position than any of the boys, with Lauren Thorstenson leading the pack with a time of 21:57, which was good enough for the 22nd position overall. Krysten Mossburg was just over one minute behind her at 23:07 for 36th. Trinity Wallace (23:50) and Olivia Friss (24:39) rounded out the Logger girls in 49th and 59th positions, respectively.

“I thought the boys would be running first, so the girls had less than 15 minutes to warm up,” Tempel said. “This hurt all of their times. But Krysten ran the same time as a freshman four years ago, so she is getting her times back down.”

On the boys’ side, Niklaus Gier was the fastest Logger. His time of 19:49 put him in 74th position overall. Stephen Williams (20:48) finished 109th and Declan Faulkner (21:17) placed 120th to round out Libby’s top three. Kevin Barnes (24:19) finished 141st, Kaleb Lindgren (27:45) was 148th and Tyler Doubek (28:18) was 149th for the Loggers.

“Stephen ran his fastest race of the year,” Tempel said. “He was faster than he was in Eureka and that was a much easier course.”

The team next stretches their legs in Whitefish at 11 a.m. Saturday.