M-ettes run in Glasgow once more

A few of the Malta M-ettes ran at the First Nemont Invitational Cross Country Meet on Thursday, October 15. The meet was held at the flat and fast Fort Peck course.

Next action for the M-ette Cross Country team is the state meet at Kalispell on Friday October 23.

Iris McKean of Glasgow, who posted a time of 19:32, was the overall winner of the fast paced high school girl's race that took place on the paved trails of the Downstream Nature Trails below the Fort Peck Dam on a cold autumn morning. Second place honors went to Annie Kaul of Plentywood who ran in with a time of 19:36. And third place honors went to Elizabeth Field of the Mondak team (Westby-Grenora) who finished with a time of 20:28.

M-ette Leslie Young took 14th with a time of 24:20. Madyson Warburton was 24th with a time of 26:18. Izzie Hallenberg was 33rd with a time of 31:47, and Aubri Werk was 34th with a time of 39:45.

Of teams fielding five or more runners, Glasgow won with a total of 62 points. Poplar was second with a total of 131.

Other teams that participated on this cold and windy autumn day were Plentywood, Westby-Grenora, Scobey, Culbertson, Dodson, Circle, Nashua and Richey-Lambert.

According to Malta Coach Thea Solberg, the weather was quite a change from the previous meets of the season with a cold brisk wind and temperatures in the thirties. She said the weather did not stop the M-ettes from taking up the challenge and running their last meet before state.

"We've missed some meets this season due to Covid concerns, sickness and injuries, which was the case last week, so we were very thankful to be able to attend this meet," Coach Solberg said. "Not everyone was able to participate at the meet but those who did ran their hearts out. This course is a nice course to run on and you can post a fast time when the circumstances are right. It's a good confidence builder and perfect timing with missed meets and the state meet just a week away."

Young ran in the first wave of runners; a very fast paced and competitive group and found herself fighting the wind which she said was hard to run in. Her time was similar to her performance of a few weeks ago on the fast track and she had a great kick at the end.

"She's been working very intensely in practices and pushing herself and getting in extra mileage and so it was good to see that her hard work was paying off," Coach Solberg said. "Being a senior with her last state meet coming up, she would like to run a personal best so she has been pushing herself hard."

Warburton came in second for the team and coach Solberg said that she looked as comfortable as she had ever seen her run this season despite the weather. Warburton ran with the second wave of runners and posted her fastest time of the season.

"Every meet she has participated in she has improved her time and she dropped almost four minutes off of her time from the challenging Malta meet which is just tremendous," Coach Solberg said. "She's really stepped up in practice and pushing herself hard and it was great to see this especially now as we come to the end of the season."

Coach Solberg said that it was great to see Hallenberg push herself. Hallenberg's time was also a personal best.

"It was great to see her push herself and she had a great kick at the end and the hard work at practice is paying off," Coach Solberg said.

The meet was Werk's second meet of the season after starting the year late due to distance learning.

"She has been working hard at practice to catch up and it was great to see her finish strong," Coach Solberg said. "It was very satisfying to see these athletes finish out the regular season with such great efforts after having missed a couple meets recently."

Coach Solberg continued, "We are looking forward to the state meet in Kalispell this next weekend; this is what you work hard for, for the whole season. This has been a challenging season, but we are thankful that we have actually been able to have a season and have been able to get together and work hard and compete even if a few things have been different."

The M-ettes are scheduled to run in the 2020 Class B Girls Cross Country Meet on Friday, October 23, at 2 p.m.