Traveling with a small squad to Tonasket last Saturday, the Raider boys opened with solid times to finish fifth at the Tonasket Invitational. The girls did not field a team.

“For their first race of the season we ran as I would have expected. …” Coach Gary Darnold said.

Leading the Raiders was the duo of Brandon Desautel and Kendall Piccolo, who finished one second apart at 19:39 and 19:40, earning them 21st and 23nd respectively. For both runners, that is around last year’s time at Tonasket. Hirotaka Miriyama of Omak snuck in between them to finish 22nd.

Freshman Lukas Hermetz finished 24th in his first cross country race with the time of 19:41.

Darnold liked what he saw from the three, who ran well as a group, placing in the low 20s. “Grouping is important to our success in the future,” he said. “We just need to move the group up in placing.”

Sophomore Daniel Loch, in his second season, finished 29th with a in 21:18, around where he started last season.

Charli Knight was the only girl running for the Raiders at Tonasket. She ran a 31:32 race to place 23rd, cutting 2:11 off her last year’s time and earning her “Most Improved Raider Runner” status at Tonasket.

This Saturday the Raider squad will take part in the Moses Lake Invitational from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.