Malta places third at The Malta Athletic Club meet

On a blustery chilly overcast day where the mosquitoes were more numerous than imaginable, 135 runners converged on the Marian Hills Golf Course for the running of the 2014 Malta Athletic Club Invitational Cross Country Meet. With the large number of runners, the competition would prove to be fierce, especially in the boy's race.

The overall winner of the high school boy's three mile race that took place at the Marian Hills Golf course near Malta was Tristen Belgarde of Rocky Boy with an impressive time of 17:23. Second place honors went to Harlem's Tristin Gone with a time of 17:29. And rounding out the top three places went to Tristan Sun Rhodes of Culbertson who cruised the course in 17:39. Dodson/Whitewater's Jeret Warren placed 16th with a time of 19:02. A total of 73 runners competed in the race.

Fifteen schools consisting of Brockton, Culbertson/Bainville, Dodson/Whitewater, Frazer, Glasgow, Harlem, Havre, Hays-Lodgepole, Hobson, Plentywood, Poplar, Richey-Lambert, Rocky Boy Winnett, and Wolf Point were represented with only seven schools fielding full teams of five members for scoring. The teams placed as follows:

1st place Glasgow 108 points

2nd Havre 116

3rd Culbertson/Bainville 120

4th Brockton 149

5th Rocky Boy 153

6th Poplar 168

7th Winnett 173

The overall winner of the JV Boy's race was Brandon Robertson of Havre with a time of 18:56. The Havre JV won the team score with 24 points.

The overall winner of the high school girl's three mile race was BreElle Wacker of Winnett who cruised in with a time of 19:58. Second place honors went to Josie Braaten of Glasgow with a time of 20:06. And rounding out the top three spots was Sierra Summers of Wolf Point who ran a time of 20:40. Malta's Sophia Stiles had a top 10 finish, placing fifth with a time of 21:12. A total of 62 runners competed in the girls division.

The Malta Mette Cross Country team placed as follows:

Sophia Stiles 5th place Time: 21:12

Marley Manoukian 17th 23:38

Hailey Nicholson 20th 24:03

Joanie Sjostrom 28th 24:48

Eva Harms 29th 24:51

Monicha Williamson 32nd 25:34

Jenise Amestoy 30th 26:10

Dodson/Whitewater runner Shawnee KillEagle placed 45th with a time of 29:31 and teammate Teal Martell placed 50th and had a time of 32:37.

Brockton, Circle, Culbertson/Bainville, Dodson/Whitewater, Frazer, Glasgow, Harlem, Havre, Hays-Lodgepole, Malta, Plentywood, Poplar, Richey-Lambert, Rocky Boy, Winnett, and Wolf Point were among the 16 schools represented in the high school girls division but only five teams fielded full teams of 5 members for scoring:

1st Glasgow 49 points

2nd Winnett 82

3rd Malta 99

4th Havre 132

5th Circle 163

The overall winner of the JV Girl's race was Taneesha Jackson of Havre with 23:16. Second place went to Jada Nicholson of Malta with 25:28. Jacina Doney of Dodson Whitewater placed 4th with 26:23. Tachante' Cole of Malta placed 8th with a time of 29:52. There were no team scores for the JV Girl's race.

The Malta M-ette Cross Country team ran the chilly windy conditions in fine fashion, every member improving their time from the previous meet in Wolf Point and placing third as a team among a large number of teams participating. "The home field advantage was definitely in our favor." Coach Thea Solberg stated. "Having several practices out at the golf course really helped us to have the confidence and strength to get through. It's one of the tougher courses we run on with several hills mixed in with the flat straight-aways. " I really liked the way Sophia exploded at the beginning and stayed with the top group the entire race." She went on to comment that several girls really improved their times including Hailey Nicholson who dropped nearly one and a half minutes and Jada Nicholson and Jenise Amestoy each improving by 1:16 seconds. With all the girls improving their times, I was really excited and this really shows that they want to push ahead and work hard and it also builds confidence. We're still in the early part of the season so anything can happen. We just need to heal up a bit from some illness and soreness and keep on working hard. Our next action will take place in Frazer on Thursday Sept. 18.