One Nation, Under God

M-ettes to host meet

The Malta M-ettes Cross Country team had the week off of running in a meet, but the team is set to host the 2020 Malta Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 3.

The meet scheduled to start at 10 a.m. The boys will kick things off followed by the girls’ races.

Many teams will be headed to Miles City this weekend, so Malta Coach Thea Solberg believes that numbers will be lower than usual. Even so, Coach Solberg said that runners and spectators can expect this weekends’ meet to be exciting for the runners.

“Malta’s meet is known to be a challenging meet with its rolling hills in the middle of the course, the dirt roads and the grassy areas give it a true cross country feel,” Coach Solberg said. “It will not be a large meet so the smaller schools that are attending will have a chance to have their runners step up and shine.”

One major difference in this year’s home meet will be the same issue that runners across the country; the threat of the COVID-19 Virus.

Coach Solberg said that races have been changed to encourage social distancing amongst runners and spectators.

“There are less runners allowed to be at the start line so the races have been done in what is called wave starts where your top runners will be in the first wave,” Coach Solberg said. “Then a few minutes later the next wave of runners will begin and then another wave of runners depending upon the size of the meet.”

The drastic change has allowed for less contact amongst runners from beginning to end.

The upperclassmen M-ettes mentioned to coaches Solberg and Handley how different things are, while the first time runners have no idea what a normal race is like.

“The new runners have no idea how it would feel to have everyone there to encourage you as you get ready to take off after the gun goes off,” Coach Solberg said.

She also said that everyone wears a mask at the meets except for the runners during the race. She also talked about the format of the state meet this season, which will be a two-days instead of one. Classes A and B will be held on Friday, October 23. Classes C and AA will be held on Saturday, October 24.

“All of these changes have been to social distance everyone and makes the whole experience safe for everyone,” Coach Solberg said. “We are very thankful that we have been able to have a season this year, even with all of the changes.”

As the season has approached its mid-point, Coach Solberg was asked how she felt the M-ettes were competing this season.

“We have been having good workouts, building our strength and conditioning and we feel like the team is performing well at the meets we’ve attended so far,” Coach Solberg said.

Coach Solberg stated that the goal of cross country is to run the three-mile race, establish a time, and then try to improve your time at every meet.

“Our girls are stepping up and have been doing just that and are dropping time and getting faster,” Coach Solberg said.

Coach Solberg declined to give out any mid-season award winners when asked, saying that the team did not have any mid-season awards.

“But if we did, we would have to give the whole team an award as a group award because everyone has been showing up for practices, they have been working hard, and some are working hard through their injuries, they have great attitudes and make practices fun, and they are a very coachable group of student-athletes,” Coach Solberg said.

 

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