Malta Cross Country Season Starts in Wolf Point

The Malta Cross Country team competed in their first meet of the season on Friday, August 25, in Wolf Point.

Megan Morser is Malta's lone M-ette and was able to post a time of 30:04 and placed twenty-sixth.

For the Mustangs, Kash Stiles crossed the line in twenty-ninth place in the boys race. Stiles' time was 22.58. Kael Young was thirty-third with a time of 24:05. Michael Mayer was fifty-fourth with a time of 29:11.

The following is a write-up by Malta Head Coach Thea Solberg.

The first race of the season was the high school girls. They got off to a quick start with returning runner Mya Green of Scobey, who set a fast pace with everyone else following behind. She sailed across the course, placing first this year because her nemesis Annie Kaul of Plentywood had graduated in the spring and was no longer a contender.

Our lone M-ette, junior runner Megan Morser was one of those runners who got out to a quick start and ran a good steady run but the heat and humidity bothered her.

She has a good strong kick and loves to push it to the max in the finish lane, and we even talked about how she could kick a bit sooner but it appeared that the heat had affected her first race of the season.

However, I was very pleased that she maintained a great position throughout the race, finishing in the middle of the pack and she looks much stronger than last season. Megan commented that she had improved from last year's start and that she was excited for the rest of the season.

The high school boy's race was an exciting one with Wolf Point's Peyton Summers blasting out with a fast pace and cruised into an impressive finish time of 16:13 for the 3.1 mile race, besting his last year's finish by over a minute. Sunny skies and humid conditions met the runners at the Airport Golf Course in Wolf Point for the first meet of the season.

Mustang runners Kash Stiles, Kael Young and Michael Mayer exploded at the start of the high school boy's race and settled into a good pace.

Stile, a junior runner, looks strong this year and ran a good race and kept in the top half of the group. Running in the wooded area near the Missouri River was tough with no breeze and felt extremely hot and he dropped back slightly. The last mile he ran steady and then had a great kick in the finish lane and bested his time from last season by over a minute! I was very excited for him, as he was proud of his performance. His comment after the race was "It was a fun race, much faster start to the season than last year!"

Young, a sophomore, had a great race and looks much stronger than last year coming off of a successful swimming season. He ran strong and steady and he too lost some time in the hot wooded area, but once up the little hill by the clubhouse, he kept going and then in the finish lane which was nearly the length of a football field, he put on the speed and raced in with three runners, one from Harlem and two from Poplar, beating the first Poplar runner by five one-hundredths of a second and the other two by only two seconds!

It was a photo finish and probably one of the most impressive finishes I've ever seen! All of us were amazed and super excited! His exciting finish placed him in the middle of the pack. His comment afterward was "It was a good first race with a fun finish!"

Michael Mayer, a sophomore and new to distance running, ran a nice first 3.1 mile race keeping steady, and putting forth a good pace and establishing a time that he can now work to improve. He comes in with some good track experience from this past spring. He has a good positive attitude and he is working very hard to get stronger and build up his endurance. I was very happy for him that he ran steadily throughout the race. The goal for him was to run and get a time. His comments were that it was his first race, he had the jitters, and he got the finish time that he wanted.

This first meet is in the record books and it is good to have taken place. It is early in the season and most runners are just beginning to get used to running and some are not sure if they are ready. But it is good to run it as a long endurance run and use it as a practice and just establish a time to work with and get the first meet jitters out of the way. You never really know how your student-athletes are going to perform until they get into competition. So this first meet sets a mark that you can only improve on.

It was a good first meet for the Malta runners and to see how we are coming along in our training and get excited for the season. We are looking forward to this running season and our next action will be Saturday, September 2, at Poplar.