SPOKANE – The Tonasket cross country team did better than they ever have at the Spokane Valley Classic this year.

On Saturday, Sept. 26, sophomore Damon Halvorsen placed 15th in the race with a time of 18:05, which head coach Bob Thornton said is the highest Tonasket has ever placed.

Also running for the boys’ team were junior Matthew Gschiel, who placed 48th at 19:43, senior Corey McCrarey, who placed 61st at 20:15, sophomore Jake Hickman, who placed 68th at 20:22, senior Spencer Podkranic, who placed 74th at 21:13 and senior Barry Pentz, who placed 86th at 22:48.

For the girls, Thornton said junior Jessica Spear, who placed 24th at 23:00, and junior Michelle Carlson, who placed 42 at 24:43, both ran great races. He said sophomore Emmy Hickman ran really well after coming back from being hurt. Hickman placed 51st at 25:27. Also running for the girls were sophomore Amy Johnson, who placed 59th at 26:03, sophomore Kablina Kochsmeier, who placed 73rd at 30:05, and senior Lilyrose Fox, who placed 74th at 31:55.

Thornton said middle school runners Kathryn Cleman and Norma Ornelas had awesome races, placing fifth and sixth respectively.

Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, Sept. 22, Tonasket ran at the Liberty Bell Invitational in Winthrop where Thornton said the boys ran a great team race.

“It is going to a real interesting race for the league and district championship between Chelan, Cashmere and us,” Thornton said.

For the boys, Halvorsen came in second place at 15:46.1, sophomore Jake Hickman came in seventh at 16:56.8, Gschiel came in eighth at 17:00.5, McCrarey came in 15th at 17:25.4, Podkranic came in 17th at 17:38.8, junior Peter Williams came in 20th at 17:50 and Pentz came in 29th at 19:29.2.

For the girls, Spear came in third at 19:27.5, Johnson came in 16th at 21:22.9, Carlson came in 24th at 22:12 and Kochsmeier came in 32nd at 26:58.9.