M-ettes sixth at Havre Invitational

The M-ettes ran in the Havre Invitational Cross Country Meet last Saturday, October 1. The team took sixth place with 165 points and was led by Jillian O'Brien who took 25th place individually.

The overall winner of the varsity girl's three mile race that took place in front of Cowan Hall at the campus of MSU Northern in Havre on a very warm fall morning was L'Tia Lawrence of Harlem who ran the hilly course in an impressive time of 19:53. Second place went to Havre's own Kadia Miller, who ran in with a time of 20:30. Third place went to Poplar's Riley McDonald who ran in with a time of 20:42.

The Malta Mette Cross Country varsity runners placed as follows: O'Brien 25th place 23:36, Mariah Green 42nd 26:10, Taylor Gilkerson 47th 27:19, Taylor Eggebrecht 51st 29:53 , Reese Sjostrom 52nd 30:08.

Teams representing 54 varsity runners from the following schools and scores for teams fielding full teams for scoring were: Fergus High School who won the event with 53 points, Havre was second with 58, Glasgow was third with 66, Browning took fourth with 76, Poplar took fifth with 88 and Malta took sixth with 165.

The overall winner of the JV girl's three mile race was Sierra Summers of Frazer who ran the course in 22:38.

The Malta M-ette JV runners placed as follows: Kaycee Bond finished in 38th place 29:39 and Sarah Ware 49th 33:49.

Teams representing 52 JV runners from the following schools and scores for teams fielding full teams for scoring were: Fergus High School who took first with 34 points, Browning was second with 50, Glasgow was third with 69, Poplar took fourth with 85 and Havre took fifth with 124.

Teams participating at Havre included Fergus, Browning, Glasgow, Poplar, Havre, Frazer, Hobson, Cut Bank, Geyser, Sunburst, Harlem, Rocky Boy, Great Falls Central, Box Elder, Belt-Centerville, Hays-Lodge Pole, Shelby, Dodson/Whitewater and Malta.

"We arrived at Northern's campus, packed up our belongings from the bus and made our way to the emerald green lawn that was littered with golden leaves from the many trees scattered here and there," Coach Thea Solberg said. "We set up our campsite and then began to walk the one and a half mile course. The grass was heavy with dew, but with the sun shining brightly, it would soon dry and the sun intensified as the morning went on."

Kaycee Bond and Sara Ware prepared for the JV girls race which was held separately from the varsity race. They shot off with the group and ran diligently across the lawns and hills of the course. Kaycee and Sarah finished the race despite the overly warm temperatures.

"We were happy that they finished and chalked another one up for experience," Coach Solberg said.

The varsity girls race was an hour later, and by the time they were to get lined up at the start, the clouds had begun to form and a nice breeze came up making everyone feel much better. I overheard some spectators commenting that they hoped the clouds would hang around for this race.

Jillian ran the course looking strong, and kept with the top half of the group and finished well considering the warm temperature and the very hilly course. Mariah ran a solid race and had a tremendous kick at the end to surpass a few runners at the finish line area. Taylor Gilkerson ran well, and was the only runner to run the race with nearly the same time as she did the week before. Taylor Eggebrecht struggled along with the heat and the hill, completing the race a place ahead of Reese Sjostrom who heroically ran the race with an ankle injury.

"We were happy that this race was behind us," Coach Solberg said. "It was a completely different race than the weekend before at the rainy Fort Peck meet. You never know what to expect this time of year, and after all, this is Montana! With several runners with injuries and sickness, we hope to be back healthy for the next meet which will be on Friday, October 7 in Dodson."