By Rob Everingham
MISSOULA It was the biggest meet of the year for the KG KouGars as they traveled to Missoula for the Mountain West Invitational. There were more than 50 schools and 1,000 runners. KG finished in 14th place at the meet.
Individually for the KouGars Eric Hanson finished tops, in 39th place with a time of 16:25. Aaron Smith was 43rd with a time of 16:27. In 85th place was Justin Antonich with a time of 17:06, while Virgil Stewart finished 96th with a 17:12. Deven Donovan ran the course in 18:02, which gave him 143rd. Joey Fallo was 226th with a mark of 20:51. Finally, Thomas Marshall finished 228th with a time of 20:56.
KG head coach Paul Anderson said he was pleased with how his team did at the large meet. He said it finished ahead of Class B power Poplar but still fell short of Class A Browning.
Were a little bit closer though, Anderson said.
Hanson, Smith, Antonich, and Stewart all ran in the Mountain West last season and Anderson said their times have improved by 20-30 seconds.
This year, Anderson said, they saw much stiffer competition than last year. A year ago just two Spokane schools ran in the race. This year he said there were numerous school from Spokane, Seattle, and even Calgary competing in the race.
They had somebody to run with the whole way, said Anderson.
The KouGars travel to East Glacier next weekend to again face off again host Browning and other schools.
