Penguins headed to State

While the Malta and Dodson teams went to Glasgow for the Nemont invitational, the Penguins Cross Country team went to the Sunburst Refiners Invitational on Thursday, October 15.

"The girls are hitting their goals right before the state meet," Whitewater Head Coach Carly Hammond said. "It was a great motivational boost for all of them."

Whitewater sophomore Sammie Wisher took fifth place at the meet with a new personal best of 23:54. Wisher's time was an improvement of over a minute.

Kendra Cummings was 11th with a time of 26:02, beating her previous time by one second. Kelsee Cummings was 12th with a time of 27:01, improving her personal best by one minute.

Ava Hanley was 14th with a time of 29:02. The team was without Hannah Hanley, but Coach Hammond said that Hannah would return for the state meet.

The team is scheduled to run at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 24.

"The girls are so excited and nervous to get to the state meet," Coach Hammond said. "I think having such a successful weekend before has really boosted their confidence. It will be an interesting week of practice with cold cold weather and snow."

In order to prepare for state, the Penguins are changing practice protocol.

"We are definitely tapering our miles this week," Coach Hammond said. "I told the girls they might not have as many miles this week but they need to have every practice count just as much."

Coach Hammond also said that the team is concentrating on keeping a perfect pace to cut time and stay consistent with their times last weekend.

"The weather might be a bit of a challenge with practice this week but it will only prepare them for Saturday, which is supposed to be pretty chilly," Coach Hammond said. "We're hoping to stay healthy all week so that we can get to the state meet in top shape! All of their hard training is about to pay off, the girls are very excited."