A nice flat terrain proved beneficial for the members of Moffat County cross country’s most recent race, but they’ll be seeing some much higher competition this week.

MCHS ended its regular season Friday morning with the Whistle Pig Invitational at Yampa Valley Golf Course.

Even with a greater turnout than last year, Bulldog athletes stayed highly ranked, as junior Haven Carr and freshman Sydney Wattles taking third in the boys and girls races, respectively.

Wattles, who runs for the Dogs as a Hayden student, said the course was much easier than last month’s home event at Loudy-Simpson. It was also significantly cooler and breezier.

“I had a pretty good start, but the second mile was tough,” she said. “The headwind was a little rough.”

In all, the hosting team had five individuals in the top 10 — Carr (17:11) and Wattles (20:21) were followed by sophomore Zach Womble at ninth in the boys race at 17:53 and seniors Alyssa LeWarne and Josefina Kuberry one after the other for the girls at eighth and ninth (21:47, 21:49).

While Wattles and LeWarne each shaved a second or two off their personal records, Kuberry was right around where her best was.

Fellow senior Hannah Kilpatrick trimmed nearly half a minute from her PR, giving her all with a final push in the home stretch, losing her footing right at the finish line.

“My legs were so tired, they just gave out at the end there,” she said. “It was great to have all the home crowds here, and I feel like I do better in the morning. The weather was perfect because it was a little chilly at first, but it made the running great.”

In the team results, MoCo girls took third and boys tied for the lead with another Bulldog squad, but Palisade got the gold as the result of a tiebreaker determined by the placement of each team’s sixth runner.

“You don’t see ties like that too often,” said MCHS head coach Todd Trapp.

The final home race for upperclassmen was a bittersweet one, said the lone senior for the boys team, Travis LeFevre, a four-year runner.

“I’m gonna miss my teammates and running with all these guys,” he said.

The end of the season is nearly upon MCHS distance runners, who will attend the 3A Region 1 Meet in Fraser this weekend, a running event at 9,000 feet on a course that they thankfully saw at the beginning of the season.

“It’s going to be tough footing, but they’re all running the same course,” Trapp said. “I don’t think most teams have run it yet, so that may help us.”

While it’s looking likely that the boys team can make the jump to state — the top four teams in each region qualify — Bulldog girls are especially hoping they can break their cold streak at regionals and go to Colorado Springs as a group.

After competing with many of the same girls the past three years, Kuberry said she hopes to run an extra week with them if possible, provided they can get the right pace this week.

“It’ll be hilly (at regionals) but hopefully that works to our advantage since we’re always running up hills and up Finley in practices,” she said. “I love this team, we’re really close.

Whistle Pig Invitational 5K results

Moffat County Boys — 3. Haven Carr, 17:11; 9. Zach Womble, 17:53; 15. Brady Nunez, 18:39; 18. Daniel Gomez, 18:58; 19. Quinn Allen, 18:59; 34. Ryun Pressgrove, 20:05; 62. Travis LeFevre, 21:35. The team placed 2^nd overall.

Moffat County Girls — 3. Sydney Wattles, 21:21; 15. Alyssa LeWarne, 21:47; 9. Josefina Kuberry, 21:49; 25. Hannah Kilpatrick, 23:32; 50. Haley Duran, 26:27. The team placed 3^rd overall.