One Nation, Under God

Cross Country teams in Shelby, Glasgow

The Phillips County cross country teams had two meets last week on two completely different courses.

On Monday, September 13, the Malta and Dodson teams attacked a hilly course in Shelby.

"The Shelby Cross Country Meet is a fun meet to attend," said Malta Head Coach Thea Solberg. "It's the kickoff for their annual homecoming festivities. Their pep band and cheerleaders came to play some peppy tunes to get everyone in the mood."

The M'ettes were led by a duo of runners that finished in the top ten.

"At the sound of the gun, Kira Beck and Kirsta Meisdalen started with the front pack of runners and maintained their good positions throughout the race," said Coach Thea. "The last half mile which is run around the park, the runners began their kicks and used their reserve energy to challenge runners. Kira maintained her position and finished strong with a time of 25:13 in seventh place. Kirsta used some reserve energy to challenge a Belt/Centerville runner near the finish and overtook her at the end of the race to finish in eighth with a time of 25:51."

The other two M'ettes in the race were Megan Morser, who finished in 22nd place (29:39), and Izzie Hallenberg in 33rd place (37:33).

"Megan ran a nice race and was able to keep a steady position. At the end of the race, she had one of the best kicks of any runner that day," said Coach Solberg. "Izzie ran determined to drop some more time and said as she approached the halfway point that she knew she had to pick it up. She used the downhill to stretch it out and managed to knock off over a half a minute off her previous meet time, posting her personal best for the season."

For the Dodson boys' team, freshmen Chaske Cliff qualified for state with a time of 21:53.

Mason LoneBear set a personal best by beating his time by 15 seconds.

For the girls' varsity team, Imagin Fox lowered her best previous time by over two minutes.

"I'm very proud of all of my runners," said Coach Tianna Bloomer. "They all gave it everything they had today."

On Saturday, September 18, there were three PC teams in action at the Scottie Invitational at Fort Peck.

In the boys' race, the lone Mustang runner, Malin Beck came in 56th place with a time of 26:01.

"He performed well in the competition after being out for a couple of weeks with an injury," said Coach Thea. "He had a steady pace and a good finish. He has some time to work on endurance and get his strength up for the state meet in a month."

The M'ette foursome finished with one runner able to drop some time at this meet.

"Kira Beck dropped nearly a half a minute which was great on this fast flat course," said Coach Solberg. "She has been working hard and getting stronger each week. The temperature rose quickly at race time and the rest of the team had a rough time feeling too warm."

The M'ettes finished as follows; Kira Beck 20th (24:50), Kirsta Meisdalen 37th (26:41), Megan Morser 54th (29:46), and Izzie Hallenberg 59th (40:22).

"The team has competed in three meets in a little over a week," said Coach Thea. "It is midseason. We will evaluate our goals and keep working to gain strength and build endurance.

The Dodson boys' team fielded four varsity runners. With Chaske Cliff finishing best of them in 46th place (22:14), Mason LoneBear right behind him in 47th place (22:39), Jeremiah Henry in 55th place (25:05), and Titus Webb in 58th place (27:38).

The Dodson girls' had two runners in the race. Lindsey Fetter finished in 42nd place (27:34), and Imagin Fox in 57th place (32:18).

The Lady Penguins got back into the groove at Fort Peck as well.

"I knew going into the race we were going to be cutting some good time," said Head Coach Carly Hammond. "The girls have been adding mileage each week. A couple of them have already passed their mileage from last year at the end of the season."

Shelbi LaBrie finished in seventh place with a time of 21:50.

"She pleasantly surprised even herself I think," said Hammond. "She cut almost two whole minutes off of her previous best. She's been juggling volleyball on top of cross country and has finally hit her stride. This was a big breakthrough for her."

Sammie Wisher was right on her heels at the end, finishing in eighth place with a time of 21:54.

"This was also a new PR for her by 10 seconds," said Coach Hammond. "I love seeing friendly competition among teammates. They were both very happy for each other at the end of the race. It will be fun watching these two bounce back and forth during races."

Kendra Cummings came in 27th place, with a time of 25:21, cutting over 40 seconds off of her PR.

"I think she is finally ok with making herself uncomfortable when running," said Hammond. "She had a goal of sticking with some girls up in this time range and ended up beating them instead of following them."

Ava Hanley was the fourth Penguin to finish, coming in 47th place with a time of 28:49.

"We both agreed that in this week's practices, she would go in with a new mindset and will be going after a new PR next weekend," said Hammond. "They all came out on that first mile a little too fast for where I thought they should be. Seeing how relaxed they were during the race, I thought maybe it would actually turn out in their favor. Of course, they had to rub it in my face after the race that they didn't follow our plans and did better anyways. Their hard work is definitely paying off. I guess they can think about that when they are mad about what I have planned for practice!"

All three teams will head to Frazier on Thursday, September 23, to compete.

 

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