Cross Country Teams Have One Last Tune-up Before State

The Phillips County Cross Country teams had one last tune-up at the Harlem Invitational Meet at the Harlem Golf Course on Friday, October 15.

"This course is all grass and completely flat," said Whitewater Head Coach Carly Hammond. "I love getting meets that include challenging hills, but this course was a great confidence booster before heading to state."

"We hadn't been able to run at Harlem in two years, so it was great to attend the meet this year," said Malta Head Coach Thea Solberg. "The weather was perfect with a chill in the air. These conditions proved to be just what the runners like."

In the boy's race, Wolf Point won the team race with 27 points. They were followed by Glasgow (32), and Harlem (106).

Individual honors went to Wolf Point's Peyton Summers with a time of 16:38. He was followed by his teammate Kholby Spotted Wolf (16:49), and Reed Larsen of Glasgow in third (16:50).

Dodson Coyotes had three runners in this race. Chaske Cliff finished in 23rd with a time of 20:34. Jeremiah Henry finished in 30th place (22:22), and Mason LoneBear finished in 33rd place (22:59).

All three of these Coyotes are freshmen, all three have qualified for state, and all three of their times at Harlem were personal records (PR).

The lone Mustang runner, Malin Beck, placed 32nd with a time of 22:53.

Coach Lisa Young said that she could tell halfway through Malins' race that he was really concentrating on keeping his last half of the race just as fast as the first so that he could PR. He ran his fastest race of the season despite the setback he had earlier in the season with a foot injury.

In the girls' race, Glasgow took the team title with 57 points, with Poplar in second place with 89 points.

Iris McKean of Glasgow took first place individually with a time of 19:17. Tanae Baker also of Glasgow finished second (19:36), and Harlem's Taya Trottier got third (19:58).

The Whitewater Penguins had all four of their girls at the Harlem meet.

Shelbi LaBrie and Sammie Wisher continued their inter-team battle finishing fourth and fifth respectively and only three seconds between them (20:41/20:44). Kendra Cummings finished in 18th place (24:16), and Ava Hanley finished in 31st (28:15).

"I was a little nervous going into the race having Sammie run with her being out the last week and a half with injuries," said Hammond. "But she looked nice and relaxed the whole race. Her splits were phenomenal, nice and even throughout the entire race."

Hammond went on to say, "Shelbi runs a little differently than most people, holding back the first 1.5 miles and then making up ground for the second half of the race. I would not normally recommend this, but it works for her. Kendra also had great splits, pulling up a gear whenever I told her to. Ava struggled a little bit during the race, feeling a little heavy all day. You definitely have those days as a runner where you just don't feel right. Hopefully, we will recover for the upcoming weekend."

The Dodson girls had two runners in the race. Lindsay Fetter finished in 32nd place with a time of 28:50 and Imagin Fox finished in 35th place with a time of 29:22.

"All of my runners ran PR's at the Harlem meet. I was really happy with that," said Dodson Head Coach Tianna Bloomer. "We don't have a really good place to practice hills and the state meet has a really steep hill. It's going to be a rough one but I'm sure they will give it their all."

The Malta M-ettes were led by Kira Beck who finished in 14th place with a time of 23:31. Kirsta Meisdalen finished in 19th (24:29), and Izzie Hallenberg finished in 37th (35:38).

"Kira led the M-ettes with her own PR time," said Coach Thea. "She was focused before the race and really worked hard to keep a consistent pace throughout the nice flat Harlem course. Kirsta worked hard pacing off Kira and a Glasgow runner who was in front of her. She had a beautiful finish and she too had a PR, running the fastest race of her cross country career!"

Coach Lisa commented, "Both Izzie and Kirsta were extremely supportive of an athlete from another team who was working to get a state-qualifying time. In no other sport will you find such camaraderie and encouragement."

Every single Phillips County cross country runner has qualified for the State Cross Country Meet in Missoula on Saturday, October 23.

Good Luck at State!!!