New Bests at Fort Peck for Malta XC

The Malta Cross Country team performed well at the Scottie Invitational with almost the entire team posting their best performance of the season.

"This is a very exciting meet because the competition is great and the course is fast." Malta Cross Country Coach Thea Solberg said. "This is the race that a person can run and post one of your best times of the season."

This is not the usual cross-country course with grass and dirt roads that you might find at a golf course. Once you get over the prairie area at the start, it becomes the flat paved nature trail that winds around cat tails and ponds, views of the powerhouses, and the beautiful campground. This meet is right in the middle of the season, which is a great place to step up and show everyone how hard you've been working, build confidence, and get pumped up as we get closer to the end of the season.

"Coach Lisa and I were optimistic that these runners would step up and perform because we have been working hard and have been having solid practices and they did just that," Coach Solberg said.

The M-ette runners exploded at the start with the other runners and jockeyed for position as they wound around the trail on the first part of the course. All three of them were right on with what we had hoped their first mile times would be. They all looked solid and strong and just had to maintain and then kick it in with whatever they had left in the final mile of the race. Kirsta Meisdalen ran a strong race, with a great kick at the end, and was similar to her fantastic run of last week, where she posted one of her fastest times of her high school running career.

Megan Morser looked full of energy and ran strong and focused, saving some energy for her kick at the end to post her fastest time of her high school running career! She was all smiles as she realized she had PR'd. We have been working on her to kick sooner and push hard further out and we were really pleased with her performance. Megan posted the most improved time of the Malta runners.

Izzie Hallenberg, running without pain, looked as strong as she ever has, used some good leg drive and pushed herself over the course, and had a good kick at the end to post her fastest time since she was a freshman, dropping over a minute from last week. She's been working so hard and we were all smiles as we celebrated with her.

Meisdalen was thirty-eighth with a time of 24:56, Morser was fifty-second with a time of 27:58, and Hallenberg was sixtieth with a time of 30:16.

The high school boys' race had an explosive start as well and a fast pace was set right away. The Mustang runners got a good start and jockeyed for position in the area where they wind around the ponds in the first part of the race. They looked strong and focused. They were right on their goal as they passed the one-mile mark and looked like they were settling in to keep a good pace and then use the last half mile to begin to move up and kick it in and finish strong. Kash had a great run and kick at the end and he too posted his fastest time of his running career (22:10), dropping almost a minute off of his time from the previous meet in Havre. He said last week's meet just didn't feel good and so he worked hard this week to rebound and he felt this race was great.

Kael also ran a strong fast-paced race, worked very hard and strategically to get to the finish line, and managed a PR of 24:12 for the meet, dropping a few seconds off of one of his previous best races. He has been pushing himself at practice and working hard to get his form better and we coaches were happy with his good work.

It was great to have had this meet and the great accomplishments the runners had at this mid-season meet. We missed having Olivia Negus, who has been working hard but her nagging ankle injury sidelined her this meet and we hope with some time off she can get back on track and make it to state. Kinilie Cummings has been out with family obligations and we look forward to her getting back into the swing of things. The practices are getting longer and more intense, and all their hard work is paying off. We are excited to see how we perform at the next meet in Frazer on Thursday, September 22.