M-ettes Head to State Cross Country

The Malta M-ette Cross Country Team is focusing on their final meet of 2019, the Montana High School Association's 56th State Cross Country Championships.

The State Meet is scheduled for Saturday, October 26, at the Eagle Falls Golf Course in Great Falls. The M-ettes are scheduled to run at 12 p.m., after the conclusion of the Class B Boys meet.

The M-ettes last ran in Great Falls four years ago at the 2015 State Meet on Saturday, October 24, 2015.

This season, the Malta M-ettes bring six athletes, four of which are upper classmen that have made it to state in every season that they have participated in cross country.

"They are very experienced runners," M-ettes Cross Country Head Coach Thea Solberg said.

This year's state runners will include seniors Kaycee Bond and Jillian O'Brien, juniors Danie Rhodes and Leslie Young, and Freshmen Izzie Hallenberg and Kirsta Meisdalen.

This season, all of the runners had posted their fastest time of the season at the meet in Poplar on Saturday, September 21.

"I don't know what happened but everyone had a faster time including Poplar's L'Tia Lawrence," Coach Solberg said. "It was just one of those meets where the conditions were just right for each runner and they pushed themselves. The adrenaline must have been flowing."

Young posted a time of 22:39.21, O'Brien had a time of 23:35.40, Bond posted a time of 24:57.65, Meisdalen had a time of 26:54.39, Hallenberg had a time of 26:59.50, and Rhodes had a time of 28:15.72.

Coach Solberg talked about her athletes one by one, starting with Bond, who has taken her running to the next level this season.

"They have all been working very hard and I believe that Kaycee Bond is in the best conditioning that she has been in since she started Cross Country," Coach Solberg said. "She has been slowly getting herself in shape and I think she is in really good shape."

Often posting the second fastest time amoungst the M-ettes, O'Brien has been improving this year as well.

"Jillian is in pretty good shape," Coach Solberg said. "She is running pretty consistent with what she was running last year."

Both seniors have made the state meet all four years of their high school careers.

The junior class members Young and Rhodes will both be making their third appearance at state.

"Danie has been a good competitive runner," Coach Solberg said. "Last year she had an injury, so she didn't run as well as she wanted to run."

Rhodes has even struggled running to the best of her ability this year, but things have been coming around.

"She has gotten more confident," Coach Solberg said.

Young has led the team consistently throughout her career.

"Leslie has been a little workhouse, constantly focusing on improving her time," Coach Solberg said. "At the practices, we have been working on her times and her split times. We are trying to get those down so that when she gets to the meets she doesn't go out full boar to begin with."

Training Young to keep some energy in the reserves has been helping her get a better kick at the end of her races.

Freshmen Miesdalen and Hallenberg have been similar during their races, finishing within seconds of each other even at meets.

"They have been running together like Siamese twins," Coach Solberg said. "They are consistently the same. They run the same pace even in practices. They have been pushing each other along."

With the difficult weather messing with cross country events around the state, Malta has still been able to thrive.

"This year has has been a hard year with the weather that we have had," Coach Solberg said. "This is the first year that we have had cancellations of more than one event."

The team's home meet, the Malta Invitational scheduled for Saturday, September 7, was canceled due to rainy, soggy and wet conditions. The Glasgow Invitational was postponed. The Havre Meet was canceled on Saturday, October 5, due to snow, so the team attended the Glasgow makeup meet that day.

"We have been putting in good practices and have worked hard, it's just a shame that a few of the meets (had been canceled)," Coach Solberg said. "The meets keep you competitive, so it's really helpful to have a meet each week."

Coach Solberg said that even during practices the team ran through cold, wet, and muddy conditions. The muddy and rainy conditions continued throughout the season, even affecting meets that the team competed in.

"It's been kind of fun but a funny year," Coach Solberg said.