Whitewater X Country 2024

The Whitewater Penguins Cross Country team has three runners this season, including the 2023 State C Champion.

Shelbi LaBrie won the title in Kalispell with a time of 19:52.5 last season and returns as the team's lone senior in 2024.

"I've seen a lot of maturity in her leadership since the season started," Whitewater Head Coach Carly Hammond said. "She's been pushing her teammates in the workouts, giving encouraging words when runs get hard, sharing advice with the younger kids, and just setting a good example. She's been a good role model and it helps build confidence in these newer runners."

The team has two juniors this season, Sommer Green and Tyler Scheffelmear. Though they have competed in other sports for Whitewater, both are new to the sport of cross country.

"Both runners are new to cross country and have shown how hard they will work this season to meet their goals," Coach Hammond said. "They both have done a good job of communicating with me if a workout isn't enough or if it's too hard. It's hard to know how much they can handle without them telling me. But, I think we have a good idea of where they are at, and workouts seem to be going well. I'm impressed with their positive attitudes and willingness to try something so new and difficult."

After a couple of weeks of practices Coach Hammond is optimistic that the team can and will grow.

"Practices have been going great! Some minor aches and pains that we're dealing with but nothing that a little rest and ice baths can't recover," Coach Hammond said. "We've changed a few things this year in practice to be able to meet time goals by the end of the season. I've got high hopes for all three runners, as well as my jr high runner, Barrett Wasson."

Coach Hammond made sure that the Whitewater runners set their own goals for the season.

"I always have them set a mid-season goal as well as an end-of-the-season goal," Coach Hammond said. "Most of the kids have time goals as well as some inner-team competition, which is fun. My personal goal for each of them at this point is to learn how to properly fuel for practice and races as this is something high school kids can struggle with. It makes for miserable runs when you're low on nutrients."

LaBrie won the Poplar Invitational women's race on Friday, September 7 with a time of 21:31.5. She had a time of 22:20.8 and took third at the Wolf Point Invitational on Friday, August 30.

Scheffelmear set a personal best of 23:23.2 at the Poplar Invitational and had a time of 23:33.2 in Wolf Point.

Junior high runner Barrett Wasson had a time of 11.29 in the junior high meet.

"I'm so impressed with all of the kids going into the race knowing it was going to be tougher than last week but not letting that deter them from setting high goals and following through," Coach Hammond said after the Poplar race. "They were all pretty happy at the end of the day! We had many local athletes place very high at this meet and we're proud of all of them. It's fun to watch Phillips County excel. This next week we are all headed to the Havre Invitational and looking forward to a nice cool, flat, grassy course with some fast times."

Whitewater 2024 XC Schedule

DAY DATE EVENT TIME SITE

Friday Aug. 30 Wolf Point Invitational TBA Wolf Point

Saturday Sept. 7 Poplar Invitational TBA Poplar

Saturday Sept. 14 Havre Invitational TBA Havre

Friday Sept. 20 Fergus Eagle Invitational TBA Lewistown

Thursday Sept. 26 Frazer Invitational TBA Frazer

Saturday Sept. 28 Mountain West Classic TBA Missoula

Saturday Oct. 12 Malta Invitational TBA Malta

Friday Oct. 18 Harlem Invitational TBA Harlem

Saturday Oct. 26 State B Cross Country Meet TBA Missoula