Sanders County runners take on Missoula Marathon
Sarah Stover is all smiles at the Missoula Marathon.
Former Thompson Falls resident Jacob Naegeli steps out during the Missoula Marathon.
Recent Thompson Falls High graduate Parker McConnell keeps pace during the marathon.
Kendall and Cooper Spurr show off their medals after the kids’ marathon in Missoula recently.
Thompson Falls resident Kylie Baxter having some fun during the half marathon in Missoula.
Numerous current and former residents of Sanders County converged on to the Missoula Marathon recently, and a few runners took some top placings.
The annual Missoula Marathon saw plenty of runners from around the country take part in the running competition, but there were plenty of local runners taking advantage of the short commute to have a go as well.
With a number of different running divisions for competitors, the full marathon saw a few have a good go at pushing their limits.
Jacob Naegeli, a Thompson Falls graduate and cross country/track alumni, competed at Earlham College in Indiana.
He is a Legacy runner. which means he has competed every year since the marathon’s inception, and has four times in the marathon making a top-10 finish.
The rest of his competition has been in the half marathon. Naegeli finished 10th this year in two hours, 42 minutes.
Parker McConnell, a 2018 graduate of Thompson Falls High School, also competed in the full marathon. He finished 14th overall in the men’s division and set a new record of two hours, 42 minutes for the 19-and-under division. He will be competing in cross country and track at University of Providence at Great Falls starting this fall.
Plains local Whitney Tanner-Spurr took the opportunity to compete in her first full marathon at the Missoula meet. Though she has been competing lightly around the country this year, Tanner-Spurr is working toward her personal goal of competing in a marathon in every one of the 50 states in the USA.
Tanner-Spurr finished 349th in the women’s division.
Half marathon runners from Sanders County included Russ Kujala, who currently competes at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, plus Rachel Ribeiro, Paula Hanks, Kate Baxter, Sarah Stover, Suzy Vonheeder, Lisa Rice, Shannon Benson and Seth Gibbs.
Vonheeder, Rice, Benson and Gibbs are said to have competed in the 5K division as well.
Rick and Linda Hanks of Plains along with Thompson Falls alumnus Mariah Earhart, Sarah Naegeli of Trout Creek and Kay Perrin of Hot Springs all competed in the 5K as well.
Though there were plenty of seasoned runners from Sanders County, some of the kids didn’t want to miss the fun, either. Youngsters Cooper and Kendall Spurr, and Leah Stover competed in the kids’ marathon.
Both the McCarthy and Banovich families from Sanders County made the most of competing as a family at Missoula.
Even with a strong number of runners competing, locals Tim and Carol Brooker were also on hand — lending support in volunteer roles during the event.
Needless to say, the small group of dedicated runners from Sanders County turned out in fine form to go up against thousands of runners during the 2018 Missoula Marathon.