Malta Sending Runners to State

The Malta Cross Country team traveled west to Harlem on a chilly autumn morning for the last meet of the season. The Harlem Cross Country meet takes place at the Harlem Golf Course, a relatively flat 3.1 mile course. This is a great meet and a great place to test your skills you've practiced all season, and hopefully give you a little mental boost and help you gain confidence for the state meet the following weekend. In the past, I have dubbed this the "flat as a pancake" course, one in which you can possibly post your fastest time of the season as you cruise around the flat grassy two loop course. It is also a spectator friendly meet, allowing everyone to be able to view the runners from the start, at the halfway spot and then again as the runners come into the finish area.

The high school boy's race was the first race to take place following the senior recognition ceremony of the Harlem runners. Nearly 80 runners lined up at the starting line, waiting for final instructions and then the gun went off to signal the start of the race that exploded quickly with runners dashing away fast to get a good start and jockey for position. Kash and Kael exploded with the other runners, although we felt like Kael didn't get out as fast but found himself in a bottle neck he had to fight through for the first part of the race. But once the runners started coming around to the mile mark and were more spread out, Kael was moving along well and had a time of 7:00 minutes and looked good. Kash come by soon after and had a time of 7:40, close to his target time. Their half mile split times were good and if they kept their pace, they would come in faster than what we had planned and we hoped this would be the case. Kael ended his race with a 21:56 with a very fast and furious finish to post a PR (personal record) for his fastest time this season. That was really fantastic and we had been hoping he could break into the 21 minute mark. He has been working very hard at practices and the meets all season and each week he has improved. He commented about his race: "It was a very flat and simple course. I ended with a pretty good time and they had a yummy meal afterwards." Kash came with a time of 24:28 and it too was a PR, posting his fastest time this season! He looked very strong and used his powerful muscles to push himself fast into the finish area and through the finish line. Kash said "This course is very flat but was littered with gopher holes. But despite the holes, it was fast and allowed me to PR for the year! And they provided a very nice meal afterwards."

The high school girl's race was next and half as many runners lined up at the starting line to wait for final instructions. With the sound of the gun they exploded and dashed away to begin working the course. Megan had a good start and was working the course well and when she came around the mile mark where we were waiting; her mile time was right about where we wanted it to be at 8:08. She continued working the course and her half mile time was right on track and then somewhere between that mark and the finish she had slowed a little bit but kept on going and then had a great kick into the end to post a time of 26:50 which was her second fastest time this season. We were really happy with how she ran and that her finish was fast. She commented about the race: "It was a nice flat course but had a lot of gopher holes. I did an okay time and finish. Two runners helped me out a lot when I was struggling. I also found a lot of golf balls!"

It was a great morning with many runners posting fast times and personal bests. It has been a fun cross country season and has gone by so fast. We have thoroughly enjoyed watching all the athletes compete in this grueling sport, and especially the local runners from our county. We want to wish everyone good luck this next weekend.

With this positive and encouraging meet under our belts, we will be ready to head to the state meet in Missoula on Friday with the races being held Saturday October 26.