Sophomore Hannah Ayers placed third and Kyla Conley took fifth in the St. Ignatius Invite, Sept. 10.
Senior Jayla Kauffman sets herself up to pass Wildkat Raedyn McDonald (#1120) at the Flathead Invite. She beat McDonald by two seconds and set a new personal record of 30:27.78.
Sophomore Chase Haines had his best race of the season at the St. Ignatius Invite finishing in 21:10.20.
The Seeley-Swan Blackhawks cross county team took to the course at Mission for the St. Ignatius Invite Sept. 10 and Rebecca Farms for the Flathead Invite Sept. 14. Freshman Kyla Conley made the podium at both meets, joining sophomore Hannah Ayers in St. Ignatius. Many of the runners also set new personal records (PR).
St. Ignatius Invite
The Lady Blackhawks brought four runners but only two finished the race. Senior Jayla Kauffman rolled her ankle during warm ups so never started. Sophomore Sariah Maughan led the race with a sparkling 6:30 first mile. However she was not able to finish due to tightening hamstrings.
Ayers followed Josey Neesvig of Thompson Falls and Polson's Karli Owens for a third place finish with her best time of the season, 21:56, a 7:05 mile. She beat Karolyna Buck of St. Ignatius by 17 seconds.
Freshman Kyla Conley, in her first 5K varsity meet, led Gracie Lang of Darby the entire race. Conley finished in 22:30 (7:15 per mile), three seconds ahead of Lang, for a fifth place medal.
For the Blackhawks, sophomore Chase Haines had his best race of the season. He out distanced Polson's Connor Lanier by 11 seconds finishing in a time of 21:10.20, 26th in a field of 51. He improved his personal record by 1:15 and kept a 6:50 mile pace. Head Coach Zelda Haines said she is pushing him to run a 6:30 mile pace this week.
Senior Levi Reinitz pushed it hard his first mile setting a low seven-minute pace. He wasn't able to maintain it for the next two miles dropping to an average pace of 7:48 per mile. Even though it wasn't a personal record, his 24:09.30 time earned him his highest place of the season finishing 39th. His closest competitor was 32 seconds behind him.
Flathead Invite
More than 25 schools took to the course at Rebecca Farms for the annual Flathead Invite Sept. 14. This was the largest race of the season so far.
Haines and Reinitz ran for the Blackhawks in a field of 137 runners. Haines warmed up well and ran a 6:32 first mile. However he rolled an ankle in one of the horse hoof divots and bowed out half way through the race.
Reinitz finished in 23:49.99 placing 118th with a 7:41 mile pace. Coming up the last hill he apologized to Coach Haines, and said he went out too hot the first mile.
"All I could say was to keep it going," said Coach Haines.
Without the Maughan sisters Sariah and Emily, Kauffman and Conley ran in the junior varsity race so they could get back for Saturday night's home volleyball game.
Conley ran another exciting race. She was in seventh for the first mile. She passed sixth place in the last mile and out kicked Jessica Dewit of Sentinel by five seconds finishing in 21:59.11. She took fourth place out of the field of 127. This earned her a t-shirt and a 31 second personal record.
Kauffman was back and set a new personal record of nearly a minute, finishing in 30:27.78. She placed 80th with a 9:50 mile pace and beat Raedyn McDonald of Columbia Falls by less than two seconds.
Ayers was the only Lady Blackhawk in the varsity race. While she didn't set a new personal record, Coach Haines said she was happy to complete the race in 23:10.2, a 7:43 mile pace. She finished 45 in the field of 110.
This week the team competed in Thompson Falls on Tuesday and heads to Great Falls on Friday to run the State Meet course.
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