M-ettes run in Fort Peck

Saturday, October 5, was the setting for the Scottie Invitational Cross Country Meet, taking place on the paved trails at the Downstream Nature Trail there below the dam at Fort Peck.

This was a meet that had been scheduled for the previous weekend, but due to the strong winter storm that swept across the state, was postponed until this past weekend.

The overall winner of the fast paced high school girls race was Annie Kaul of Plentywood who paced with the top runners and eventually pulled ahead for the win and ran in with a time of 19:45. L'Tia Lawrence of Harlem, who had led for most of the race, settled for a second place finish and a time of 19:50. The third place runner was Iris McKean, who ran in with a time of 20:24, and posted the exact same time as her meet time of last year.

The Malta Mette Cross Country team performed well at the Scottie Invitational with each member of the team running their second best time of the season. "This was such an exciting race to see unfold. The conditions were just right, an azure blue sky and brilliant sun and no rain, snow or mud to contend with, just a good strong breeze. But it is pretty protected down there in the park with the trees starting their fall change of colors." Coach Solberg stated. "This is the race that a person can run fast and post one of your best times of the season. It's flat and paved so you can grip and really get going. We really expected the girls to step up and perform and they did. We've had some tough meets lately, with the weather and conditions being less than ideal, so this was a welcome relief, a meet to compete with some good competition but also to help us build some confidence and get us pumped up as we get closer to the end of the season. These girls have been working very hard at practices and it is great to see the fruits of their labor."

Leslie Young charged ahead at the sound of the gun and kept in the front pack of fifty runners. She ran strong and paced herself well. She had a tremendous kick at the end to claim the eleventh place finish and a ribbon as well, posting a time of 23:13, which was nearly the same time as last season's finish here at Fort Peck. Jillian O'Brien ran strong with the front of the pack and made her way along the nature trail and around the ponds and finished twenty fourth with a time of 24:58. Kaycee Bond ran with good form and in the middle of the pack, worked her way through the throngs of runners, and posted a twenty seventh place finish and a time of 25:25, which was almost identical to her last year finish. The freshman duo of Kirsta Meisdalen and Izzie Hallenberg ran the race together, looking their strongest this season, pushed each other over the blacktop course, Kirsta pulling away in the last quarter mile of the race to finish in fortieth place and a time of 28:33, and Izzie with forty first place and a time of 28:36.

Team scores were as follows, of teams fielding full teams for scoring: Glasgow won the meet with a total of 34 points. Havre was second with 36. Plentywood and Malta each had 88 points and Scobey was fifth with 95. Other teams that were there were Harlem, Culbertson, Wolf Point, Poplar, Circle, Dodson, Whitewater, and Brockton.