M-ette X-Country: Malta takes third at the Havre invitational, despite gophers

The Malta M-ette Cross Country team took on the always windy course at the Havre Invitational Cross Country Meet last Saturday. They placed third as a team with 123 points.

The overall winner of the Varsity girl's 3 mile race of 66 runners that took place at the campus of MSU-Northern was Josie Braaten of Glasgow who ran the hilly course in 19:28. In second place was Tina Gike of Hobson who ran in with a time of 20:29. Third place went to Havre's Rachel David who ran her home meet in 20:55. Belt/Centerville's Kenzie Lencioni ran to a fourth place finish with a time of 21:00. And rounding out the top 5 finishers was Malta's Sophia Stiles who battled the tough competition and finished in fifth place with a time of 21:05.

The Malta Mette Cross Country team placed as follows:

Sophia Stiles 5th 21:05, Marley Manoukian 19th 23:22, Joanie Sjostrom 22nd 23:33, Eva Harms 29th 23:50, Jenise Amestoy 48th 26:00, Jada Nicholson 52nd 27:18

This large meet hosted teams from Glasgow, Hobson, Belt/Centerville, Havre, Sunburst, Lewistown, Wolf Point, Browning, Circle, Poplar, Cut Bank, Frazer, Great Falls Central, Harlem, Shelby, Geyser, Rocky Boy, Dodson/Whitewater and Malta. Teams fielding 5 members or more for scoring placed as follows:

1st Glasgow 61, 2nd Lewistown 71, 3rd Malta 123, 4th Belt/Centerville 128, 5th Havre 135, 6th Browning 144, 7th Circle 215

The overall winner of the JV girl's 3 mile race of 31 runners was Andrea Morren from Great Falls Central and she ran in with a time of 22:53. Monicha Williamson ran in with a tenth place finish and had a time of 26:23. TaChante' Cole ran to a thirteenth place finish and a time of 27:19. The team from Lewistown was the only team to field a full team for scoring and they had 21 points.

The Havre cross country meet is a challenging meet with its hilly course that loops around and around. Add to that a hefty west wind and competition from nineteen different schools and you have the makings of an exciting event. The Malta Mette's faired very well with a third place finish.

"I was actually really surprised when I got the times and scores after the tabulations were complete," said M-ette Coach Thea Solberg. "There were nearly 70 runners that ran the varsity race and it seemed like the competition was as fierce as the west wind."

She also noted that, The girls were nervous at the start because they were facing some competition they hadn't seen all season.

Sophia charged out in the lead at the start of the race and ran strong and determined with the top runners settling in to a comfortable pace and finishing with her second best time of the season.

"She looked great and even though her time was a bit slower than Fort Peck, she finished ahead of her nemesis from Glasgow and that was the goal for this meet," Coach Solberg said.

Marley Manoukian and Joanie Sjostrom ran together, changing the lead between the two a couple times and pushed each other over the hilly course and finished within seconds of each other and both posting their second best time of the season.

"The goal for them was to work together and push each other closer to the lead group because they have similar strength and their finish times have been close and they accomplished that," Coach Solberg said.

Eva Harms ran the hilly course very strong and kept steady and posted her second best race of the season.

"Her time was not far off of her finish time from Fort Peck, which is impressive considering that Fort Peck is incredibly flat and the Havre course is very hilly," Coach Solberg said.

Jenise Amestoy and Jada Nicholson struggled through the hills and wind, but finished the course with respectable times.

"This is a hard course and with all the loops you make it can be frustrating," The coach went on to say "These two girls usually run well together and push each other in the meets and I expect them to step it up at the next couple meets which are fairly flat and be confident for the state meet."

Hailey Nicholson was unable to finish the race due to some shoulder problems that have been nagging her this season.

"I am hoping that she will be able to finish out the season as she's been a strong runner for us," Coach Solberg said.

The JV race was held before the Varsity race and thirty one runners completed it. Monicha Williamson received a tenth place ribbon for her heroic efforts and posted one of her better times of the season.

"I was really happy with her performance considering that during the race she stepped in an unmarked gopher hole way out in the Northern football practice field and hurt her ankle and elected to finish the race even though it was quite painful," Coach Solberg said.

Teammate Sarah Ware started the race but also fell victim to an unmarked gopher hole and fell and then had to bow out.

"She had a pretty good start to the race and it was just unfortunate," Coach Solberg said.

TaChante' Cole finished the JV race to a thirteenth place finish and dropped over two and half minutes from the last meet she participated in.

"She'd been ill the past week or so and we were very excited and she posted a personal best for the season," said Coach Solberg. "After an eventful meet in Havre, we are excited to be closer to home when we travel over to Dodson on Friday October 10."