Malta XC eighth at Wolf Point Invitational

The overall winner of the high school girl's 5k, 3.1 mile race of 43 runners was Annie Kaul of Plentywood, who cruised over the Airport Golf Course speedily with a time of 19:51. Second place went to Mya Green of Scobey, who ran 20:55 over the course and was followed by third place finisher Jazmin Gorder of Poplar, who ran a time of 21:37.

The Malta Mette's placed as follows: Kira Beck was fourteenth with a time of 25:40, Kirsta Meisdalen was seventeenth with a time of 26:23. Megan Morser was thirtieth with a time of 29:27, and Izzie Hallenberg was fourty-third with a time of 40:03.

For the boys, Malin Beck posted a time of 25:27.92, a time that was twenty-eighth overall.

Poplar won first place as a team with a score of 32 points. Scobey was second with 44 points, and Plentywood was third with 44 points. Malta girls did not have enough girls to field a full team for scoring.

Coach Lisa Young and I were very pleased with how the race turned out. It is always good to have the first meet in the record books. We have been practicing for a couple weeks, with our first practice being held on Friday the thirteenth, the first legal day to begin according to MHSA.

You always wonder how your student athletes are doing but you can't really gauge anything until they get into competition. Most of our student athletes have been running off and on this summer when we started our summer running, gathering a couple nights a week to pre-condition and get some kind of base to work off of. So this first meet sets a mark that you can only improve on. Junior runner Kira , running for the first time as an Mette, having transfered from Glasgow looked good wearing the blue and white and she ran a good strong race and had a good kick the last length of the finish area. Kirsta ran strong and steady and she too had a good kick at the end and placing in the top half She commented that the course was different, having not run there since she was a freshman. This year they had the challenge of running into the woods over some uneven surfaces and winding around trees that were near the Missouri River. Freshman runner Megan ran her first ever race as a cross country runner, and really not having any idea what to expect because this was the first meet she had ever been too. But she started out strong and kept a good steady pace and had a good strong kick at the end and beat the time I had predicted she would run. Izzie ran steady and finished her race considering her leg discomfort she has been suffering with, and she too hadn't run here since being a freshman.

Malin is Malta's lone freshman Mustang, stood at the start line with the other boys varsity runners until the gun went off and he began with a good start and kept a good steady pace and posted a nice time and made history for Malta High School. It's really exciting to have the boys be able to participate finally. We've been waiting for many years. I've had boys run as managers before and used the time to get in shape for basketball, keep in shape for track, and even for an Army scholarship. It's a new program and it will grow and we're happy to be able to offer this now.

We are looking forward to this running season and our next action will be Saturday September 4 at Poplar.