The younger runners of the cross country team had to step fast while stepping up Wednesday against middle school teams from Polson, Walsh and OLM, with the eighth graders away on their four-day overnight camping trip.

The girls raced first and paced themselves to the team victory with 35 points, ahead of strong efforts from both Walsh (45) and Polson (53) schools, while OLM (99) finished fourth. Dropping their times significantly versus only two weeks ago, Laila (34 seconds faster) and Tillie (36 seconds faster) took first and second by a wide margin, thrilling the spectators with another shoulder-to-shoulder battle throughout the two-mile course of paths and grass and a gravel road.

Demonstrating fireworks to come, Liv was third for the team and fourth overall, also dropping her time by 40 seconds versus two weeks ago. Rounding out the top five scores for The Country School, Maribel smiled her way to her personal best on the course, taking fourth for the team and 9th overall, followed by Anna G, scoring in the top five for the first time, 19th place overall, while improving her time by 40 seconds.

The mid-race pack again proved a strength for these Owls, with Maybe and Oakley finising in 24th and 29th, while Eloise charged home to shave a whopping two full minutes off her time, in 36th, and Caroline sneaked into the top-40 overall with 39th place, besting her previous time by 16 seconds.
 
In demonstrating great pack running and teamwork over the second lap of the course, Samantha, Alex and Avery finished 20 seconds apart to nab spots 43, 44, and 45. Not too far behind, and securing a course personal best by 6 seconds, was Nora, who distanced herself from a pack of three Walsh runners in the final 250 meters.

While the satisfied girls ate their snacks and drank their water, the five boys went to the starting line against the same three teams, looking across the 100 meter opening field toward their parents and families. Right at the start, Keve went into the lead for the team, pulling his teammates through the 1st mile and eventually to the finish line, finishing 8th overall, lowering his personal best on the course by 49 seconds.

Reliable stalwart, Ryan, finished 16th overall and second for the team, also improving his best time in the course by two seconds. Hot on his heels was Tash, running in his first varsity race and finishing hard in 17th overall. Working together as teammates while also dueling over the stream, through the valleys and up and down the hills, Griffin and Will took valuable fourth and fifth for the team, finishing in 31st and 46th places respectively, with Will taking 89 seconds off his time from early September.