Scottie Boys Run Away With First Place in Malta

The Glasgow Scottie cross country teams attended their penultimate regular season meet in Malta Saturday and brought home some ultimate results. The boys team scored a near-perfect 16 to win the Invitational and notched six personal records on the day. On the girls side, Glasgow scored 78 for third place, behind Havre, 43 and Poplar, 60, with three personal records and a season best performance.

The Scottie runners expressed enthusiasm for their performance in Malta. "The meet was great," said Dalton Sand. "Glasgow dominated with almost a perfect score." Mary Dykema said, "Everyone did good in the meet in Malta. We all pushed ourselves."

Reed Larsen led the Scottie boys, who took six of the top ten slots. The Scottie junior ran a personal best of 17:15.21, knocking more than 30 seconds off his previous best time this year. Freshman Kyler Holinde snagged second place with his time of 17:58.86. Senior Sand took third and junior Lane Thompson finished in fourth place for Glasgow. Sand ran a personal record time of 18:06.54, forty seconds faster than his previous best, and Thompson completed the course in 18:23.86.

"The meet was great. Glasgow dominated with almost a perfect score," Sand told the Courier. "The course was one of the better ones I've ran on this year. Nothing better than running on good terrain. It was a good rolling hill course, getting us ready for state."

Scottie senior Bergen Miller ran an 18:41.57 for sixth place while fellow senior Blake Lloyd set a personal record and finished in eighth place with a time of 18:51.93, coming in under the 19-minute mark. Sophomore Eli Feezell came in 16th with his time of 20:18.16. "Malta's course was nice, it had some hills, it was mostly grass," Feezell said.

Freshman runners Ted See, Adam Mickelson and Owen Thompson all set personal records on the Marian Hills course. See ran a 20:54.46 to take 18th place while Mickelson finished in 20th with his time of 21:11.71. Thompson ran the course in 23:51.82 to take 29th. James Seekins, sophomore, rounded out the Scottie boys, taking 37th with his time of 27:33.73.

In the girls' race both senior Iris McKean and freshman Tanae Baker set personal records, each coming in under the 20-minute mark. McKean claimed the top spot with her time of 19:30.36, 11 seconds better than her previous best time this year, and Baker was close behind in second place with a time of 19:37.84, her first under 20 minutes as a Scottie runner. Freshman Kheyerah Bilger set a personal record as well, running a 24:3.22 and finishing in 18th place. Haylly Turner, junior, hit a season best time of 25:12.86 and finished in 21st place. Eve Stone, sophomore, took 36th place after running the course in 27:38.98. Dykema, freshman, took 45th place after running a 31:51.93. "The biggest challenge has been getting the right mindset to keep pushing even when you're tired," Dykema said. "The most rewarding is just seeing yourself and your teammates continue to grow and get better throughout the season." Dykema

For Sand, formerly a football player for Glasgow, "The biggest struggle has been transitioning from putting on the pads and hitting people, to now everything about speed and endurance." Feezell believes staying consistent as a team has proved most challenging, while adding, "...the most rewarding thing is being able to improve all our times." Sand echoed his teammate, "The greatest reward has been seeing my team excel through the season with everyone improving so much. Mr. Karst and Mrs. Hughes have done a great job at pushing us to our full potential."

Glasgow's final regular season meet will be this Friday, Oct. 15, in Harlem. Head coach Rod Karst said the course at the Harlem golf course will be "flat and fast."

Friday evening, Glasgow will honor their senior runners at Senior Night at Scottie Field prior to the 7 p.m. Glasgow v. Malta football game.