Lady Penguins Run in Great Falls

The Penguins attended the Great Falls XC Invitational on Friday, October 1.

“I only had two girls attend this meet, Kendra Cummings and Sammie Wisher,” said Head Coach Carly Hammond. “I’m so glad we have been trying out some new meet locations this year. This meet was amazing.”

There were 205 female runners alone at this meet, from all classes.

“The atmosphere was much more exciting than a smaller meet,” said Hammond. “I thought this was a great experience for the girls and we will definitely be attending next year.”

The course in Great Falls was on a golf course, all grass.

“It was hill after hill after hill,” said Coach Hammond. “It was a very challenging race.”

“The girls started off the first half of the race very strong and under our planned pace, so I told them to relax and pull back a bit,” said Hammond. “When Sammie reached the 1.5 miles marker, she had some sharp pains in her calf, so I pulled her from the race. She was pretty broken up about not finishing the race, but we will be having her do some low-impact cardio and icing for the next week. Hopefully, a recovery week will make a difference and we can get back on track from there.”

Cummings came through not long after Wisher, looking nice and relaxed.

“The last half of the race was grueling, but she made it through all the way with a time of 26:34,” said Coach Hammond. “I will brag a bit in saying that my girls rock when it comes to running hills. That is one of our main focuses in every practice. I was very happy with her performance.”

This coming Saturday, the Penguins will be in Malta for the Malta Invitational.