Ronan runners improve times at Flathead Invite

By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
KALISPELL — The points didn't rack up so well, but the Ronan cross country team put up some good times at last Saturday's Flathead Invitational Cross Country Meet. The hilly three-mile course at Kidsport Complex is always challenging, as is the competition, which includes a large amount of Class AA teams.
Ronan coach Gale Decker ran his girls' squad in the junior varsity race, which finished fourth out of 11 teams. The Ronan boys finished 12th out of 12 varsity teams.
Justin Dusty Bull was the fastest Ronan boy, placing 62nd out of 93 finishers in 19 minutes, 12 seconds. Brady Oakland finished 68th in 19:33, followed by Edmond Dupuis in 77th at 20:00, Jordan Franklin in 79th at 20:19 and Christian Rogers in 86th place at 21:32.
Ashley Grandchamp led the Ronan girls in the JV race, taking 14th place in 23:24 among 114 runners. Taneesha Lefthand was 17th in 23:26, followed by Victoria Crenshaw at 40th in 25:10, TyLynn Lefthand at 55th in 25:45, Roslyn Hardy at 56th in 25:52, Hayley Walston at 99th in 28:37 and Sierra Mahseelah at 107th in 29:48.  
Ronan's JV boys placed eighth out of eight teams, with Devin Costa at 62nd among 131 runners in 21:00, Eric Malmquist at 82nd in 21:49, Nate Rogers at 101st in 22:43, Robbie Hocker at 102nd in 22:45 and Dylan Sagmiller at 122nd in 25:32.

"It was a tough meet with lots of AA teams and not many A or B squads and a difficult course," coach Decker noted. "Almost all of our kids that ran there last year posted better times this season, which is encouraging."
Both squads also cut down the amount of time between first and fifth runners, which was a goal for the team last week.
"Devin Costa ran well in the JV boys' race in his first meet of the season. We're looking for him to get his time down even more and help us out on the varsity team," Decker said. "Our top five girls all ran better than last week and we're going to see continued improvement from them as the season goes on."
Ronan will host the Ronan Invitational this Saturday, Sept. 19, at Pablo's Silver Fox Golf Course, with Middle School race starting at 10 a.m.