Phillips Cross Country Teams Lower Times Across the Board

The cross country teams of Malta and Whitewater raced this past weekend in Havre, while the Dodson runners were in Scobey last Thursday.

Havre Cross Country Invitational

The Havre Invitational was held at the Prairie Hills Golf Course for the second year in a row.

Malta Head Coach Thea Solberg said, “Meeting at this beautiful green oasis between farmland and the Milk River has proved to be a boon to our runners who all dropped time from the previous meet.”

The top runner for Malta was Kirsta Meisdalen in 22nd place with a time of 24:42.

“Kirsta ran the fastest time of her cross country career and has shown much strength and leadership this season,” said Coach Thea.

Kira Beck finished in 27th with a time of 25:13, Megan Morser finished in 52nd with a time of 29:28, and Izzie Hallenberg finished in 69th with a time of 38:15.

“The competition was great with three Class A schools represented as well as others we’ve run with from the east,” said Coach Thea. “Coach Lisa and I were satisfied with their performance on this fairly flat course.”

Whitewater Head Coach Carly Hammond said of the Havre race, “It was looking to be a beautiful day of 60-degree weather and rain. The girls went into the race ready to follow their race plans we had discussed on the way there.”

Whitewater’s top runner was Sammie Wisher, who finished the race in 8th place with a new personal best time of 22:04.

“She went in knowing she could keep a seven-minute pace and she did very well,” said Coach Hammond. “This girl is all smiles during the race, encouraging runners along the way. You don’t see very many kids smiling on the course.”

Shelbi LaBrie was the second Penguin to finish, coming in 14th place with a new personal best time of 23:37.

“We tried to slow down her first mile this week,” said Hammond. “We will be working on leveling off the last two miles in the coming weeks. She had a side ache for a majority of the race, so I commend her for finishing strong.”

Kendra Cummings finished in 34th place with a time of 26:02, matching her personal best from last year, and Ava Hanley finished in 46th place with a time of 28:05.

“The end of the race was a little unclear as to where the finish line was,” said Hammond. “so next week she should be into the 25 minute range. She’s been working her tail off to get under 26. Ava was very consistent to last week. She looked much more relaxed when running this week.”

The Dodson Coyotes ran in Scobey on Thursday, September 9.

Head Coach Tianna Bloomer said, “The Scobey course is a super cool course to run. We’ve had a slow start to the season, but we’re starting to get our varsity runners to where they can compete.”

On the varsity side, the Coyotes had one runner each in the male and female competitions.

Mason LoneBear finished in 18th place for the men with a time of 24:19.

“Mason ran really well,” said Bloomer. “He does a good job of keeping consistent with his pace through the race.”

On the ladies’ side, Imagin Fox finished in 31st place with a time of 31:56.

“Imagin did great,” said Bloomer. “She qualified for state with that run.”

On the middle school side, the Coyotes finished in 5th place as a team with a score of 46. Poplar finished in first with 18, followed by Scobey-19, Culbertson-27, Circle-Redwater-28.

The top finisher for Dodson was Wamni Cliff in 8th place, with a time of 10:07 in the 1.5-mile race. Followed by K.J. Fetter in 15th place with a time of 10:56, Ian Healy in 28th place with a time of 11:57, and Emmitt LoneBear in 33rd with a time of 12:56.

“All of my little guys did a great job,” said Coach Bloomer.