Penguins Run in Kalispell at the Flathead Invitational

The Lady Penguins headed to Kalispell last Friday for the Flathead Invite. This meet is held on Rebecca Farms, an equestrian course on the Northern side of Kalispell. You are surrounded by Mountains. It's a beautiful area to run. The girls run out in an open field and the entire course is on grass. Some of the grass was actually pretty tall so the most challenging part of the race was navigating the tall grass and uneven ground. It's a two-loop course that has one hill that is about 400 meters long, and then a nice long downhill slope that cuts into the next lap and the final stretch. This type of ascent change isn't anything the girls aren't used to but the grass is something they are going to have to get used to, one reason I felt like we needed to hit this meet before we went for state. We don't get many courses that are too similar to this so I've tried to add more to our schedule this year.

This was Shelbi LaBrie's first meet of the season. The past couple of years we've struggled with Shelbi jumping out too fast in the first meet of the year and paying for it on the last mile. We had a very specific running plan in order for her to avoid this. Starting with a 6:50 mile and increasing speed with each mile of the race. She came up on mile one with a 6:40 pace and looking strong so I knew she'd stay on and be able to finish consistently. She came back around with 400 meters left and had passed about 30 girls who had led her for the majority of the race. After she reached the top of the hill she hit a wall but managed to carry herself across the finish line. She finished with a time of 20 minutes and 36 seconds which is phenomenal for her opening meet. Competing against AA, A, and B schools, she placed 19th out of 149 runners. She ran smart and it paid off.

Ava Hanley went into the race planning on sticking to an 8:35 pace. Her first mile was right on the money. She ended up dropping off on the last two miles by about 30-40 seconds but stayed fairly consistent with her time from last week. This course was more challenging and the temperature that day was pretty warm around 75 degrees. The second mile of the race is always the toughest as this is generally when runners start to get off their pace. So, it's something we are going to pay close attention to in the upcoming practices. She finished strong with a time of 28.04 in 137th place.

The girls were happy to be done for the day and managed to find some horses on the way to the vehicle to stop and visit with. They've always got the best spirits and attitudes. Makes my job a lot more enjoyable! We head to Havre this Saturday for the Havre Invitational. Good luck to all of the local athletes, we're excited to meet up with everyone this coming weekend!