Malta XC runs in Poplar Meet

The Malta Mustang and M-ette Cross Cross teams competed in the Poplar Invitational Cross Country Meet on Saturday, September 3.

The M-ettes consisting of five runners, placed 8th with 192 points and the Mustangs were not able to score, only having two runners.

The overall winner of the high school boy’s 3 mile race was again Peyton Summers who sailed over the very hot course with an impressive time of 16:56. He is a fun runner to watch because he makes it look so easy and effortless. Being the leader, he sets the pace and if you are competitive, you explode at the sound of the gun and that is what happened at the Poplar cross country course. This is a tough one because you run on every surface possible from blacktop to gravel road out to a dirt road on the prairie and then back to blacktop and cement and finish on the grass!

Kash Stiles led Malta with a time of 23:08. He was 30th overall. Kael Young had a time of 25:28 and was 44th.

Kash and Kail both exploded at the start with the rest of the boys group and once they got down the hill to the prairie they were settling into a comfortable pace. Kash said he rolled his ankle in that area and then just decided to not let up and persevere. He was in a battle with three Scobey Spartan runners most of the race and then in the final leg of the race put forth a tremendous kick and passed those boys and managed to come in and set a new personal record for himself which we were extremely excited about! He said this week's practices really helped him prepare for the hill that they ran down and climbed back up. It’s short and painful. Kael ran a good race as well and had a good kick at the end. He too was sandwiched between Scobey Spartan runners. His time was off a bit from last week's first ever run as a high school runner but considering the heat, we were very happy with his effort.

Poplar won the girls meet with a total of 45 points, Glasgow was second with 73 points, Scobey was third with 74 points. Malta was eighth with 192 points.

Annie Kaul of Plentywood was the overall winner of the high school girl’s race. She set a good fast pace at the start and was challenged by Glasgow runner Tanae Baker. The high school girls race was after the boys and the temperature was at least ten degrees warmer than when the boys started. We figured this would probably affect runners being that this course had blacktop which would absorb the intense heat and the prairie area was like the desert radiating heat to every runner out there. We were disappointed at how the start line was set up and some of our girls got boxed out right from the get go.

Kirsta Meisdalen led the M-ettes with a time of 27:07. She finished 24th overall. Megan Morser was 54th with a time of 33:34, Isabelle Hallenberg was 60th with a time of 34:59, Kinlie Cummings was 62nd with a time of 25:30, and Olivia Negus was 68th with a time of 38:13.

Kirsta was the only one that managed a quick start as the race started and settled into a good pace and maintained that throughout the race. This meet was much warmer than the previous week's meet and her time happened to be within one second of last weeks so we were very happy about that. Megan didn’t get a good start and then just moved along and settled into a pace that she maintained but had her great explosive kick at the end of a long hot race. Her time was off from last week and so was Izzie’s because she too was boxed out at the start but she pushed herself along and had a nice finish at the end. Kinlie Cummings was our next runner who came in and this was her first high school meet. She was nervous but we were just excited for her to be able to run and post a time. It was a tough meet to have been the first one with the course the way it was and the heat factor. But she crossed the finish line and made history for herself. Olivia was our final runner to come in and she pushed herself along and kept steady and had a nice finish at the end to post a personal best for her, dropping two minutes from last weeks meet. That was impressive and showed that the hard work during the week was paying off. With all five runners participating at the meet, the M-ettes had a full team for scoring and Coach Lisa and I were excited about this because we hadn’t had one in a couple years.

This heat wave has made us scratch our heads to figure out ways to train safely and have good quality workouts as we get ready for a busy week with a meet in Havre on Saturday and one in Shelby on Monday. We are looking forward to cooler days as the hot summer comes to an end. In the meantime, you will see us out working hard and enjoying some popsicles for our efforts.