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BILLINGS - The Thermopolis Bobcat cross-country team had an excellent showing and got their season started in a strong way at the Billings Invite Friday afternoon.

Senior Jules Wards ran a time of 18:18 earning her second place among 134 other competitors. Other stand outs for Thermopolis included freshman McKenna Bomengen (20:57, first place in junior varsity), Tahja Hunt (21:47, third place in JV), Olivia Weyer (24:19, 32 place in JV) and senior Stacy Lewis (26:46, 76 place in JV).

Thermopolis cross-country coach Brenna Abel was proud of her team's effort Friday afternoon. "We had a really good day, our freshman ran well for their first meet and Jules (Ward) looked great today. It was her first time getting under the 19-minute mark which is her goal for this season...Everyone else I ran JV since it is the start of the year. McKenna (Bomengen) would have placed in the top 15 for varsity and this was her first race of the season. Tahja (Hunt) and Olivia (Weyer) ran great races as well."

The Billing Invite gives this Thermopolis team a strong start to the season and the confidence to know they can run with anyone. "Overall it was nice to have most our girls on the course. For my freshman this is will start a baseline for them and for my seniors we can compare times from last year and see the improvement. Next week we will be in Sheridan and most of the schools will be there because State will be hosted there. So we're excited to look at more of our competitive around the state."

Results for Thermopolis at the Billings Invite are as follows.

Varsity Girls (134 participants)

2, Jules Ward, 18:18.

JV Boys (272 participants)

38, Sean Miller, 20:01.

JV Girls (266 participants)

1, McKenna Bomengen 20:57.

3, Tahja Hunt, 21:47.

32, Olivia Weyer, 24:19:00.

76, Stacy Lewis, 26:46:00.

86, Erica Meier, 27:11:00.

100, Liz Rhodes, 28:10:00.

Thermopolis will be in Sheridan next for Sheridan Invite on Sept. 9.