Malta XC Runs in Havre, Gardipee Ninth

The Malta Cross Country team traveled west to the Havre Invitational Cross Country meet, last Saturday, where teams from up and down the Hi-line met on a beautiful late summer morning with cool temps, overcast skies and a nice breeze.

The meet takes place at Prairie Farms Golf Course north of Havre, a green oasis in the middle of farmland. This meet has been a great meet to test the skills you've been practicing and see how you fair on this fairly flat golf course.

The Mustang Cross Country team lined up at the start line, which was nice and wide to allow for all the teams to spread out nicely. After some final instructions, the starting gun sounded and the boys exploded into a colorful sea of runners.

We had prepped our boys on getting out quickly, to get a good spot and avoid any bottlenecks. And they did just that. Greg Gardipee said he got out quickly and got into third place for the first mile, running right on his first mile time and then he experienced some pain in his knee and slowed a bit and at the mile and a half area, he was in eighth place and appeared to be moving along well, but backed off a bit more and ran a great finish with a ninth place finish and a time of 19:22.

He stated his knee was hurting and wasn't sure how he finished until they announced he placed ninth for varsity boys. Thinking about his race, Greg quoted David Goggins, an endurance athlete and retired Navy SEAL, who said "stay hard". And that's what he did.

Kael Young also had a great race and pushed himself out fast to get a good position and pace to get the projected mile time split we wanted him to have. He did do that and was looking strong as he went along and was right on track as he rounded the corners in the mile and a half area. He ran the rest of the race looking good and then had a fantastic fast finish passing a Poplar runner right near the finish. That put him in 52nd place with a time of 23:00, posting his fastest time this season.

Kael said of his race that it was a fast finish and he enjoyed the flat course, but he was very tired from the long week of homecoming activities.

Kash Stiles got a good quick start as well and was running right on target the first two miles. He looked strong and was pushing along but after he got past the two mile area, he said he began to hurt and slowed his pace quite a bit. He made it around and started a kick into the finish lane and had a nice spurt there to post a time of 26:06 and a place of 65th.

He ran a faster time than at Poplar, which was a tough course so we were happy with his performance on this course. He said "I just gotta keep going." He continues to work hard and drop time and will like the rest of the team, build endurance as the season goes along.

Megan Morser lined up at the starting line and she too had a great start and pushed herself along looking strong. Her mile and two mile times were fairly close to what we had hoped for her to do.

This is a nice course to run on with the short grassy areas and the dirt trail on the prairie area, which was a boon to her because of a hip issue she's had. She moved along the course, looking fresh and strong and then when she rounded the corner close to the finish area, you could see her make her move and she began her fast kick passing a couple of runners as she sped and ran across the finish line. With her effort she placed 40th and had a time of 27:51, which is nearly a minute faster than the Wolf Point meet. She said of her race "I am happy with my time and it felt good."

Coach Lisa and I were happy with their performances today; they executed well where we wanted them to. There are some things that we need to work on like endurance and having the strength and energy to finish as strong as you start. Fortunately, we still have quite a few weeks yet in the season and it is early. The competition at Havre was different with some teams from the west part of the Hi-line that we haven't seen yet this season, so it was fun to be able to see new faces and enjoy some competitive fast finishes.