Scottie Cross Country In Williston

The Scottie cross country teams hit the tracks in Williston Sept. 6, for their second meet of the season. The boys varsity scored 264 points to take 11th place and the girls team took sixth place with 199 points.

"I thought the kids ran REALLY well in Williston! And they did it on very tired legs, so that makes me even more optimistic about the future," Head Coach Tim Phillips told the Courier. "It was definitely a much better day to run compared to Billings: about 20 degrees cooler, so that helped. The competition was even tougher than Billings, and I think that helped the kids to faster times too. We ran on the golf course with lots of gradual ups and downs, so it was pretty similar to Sidney and pretty comparable to the Missoula course, minus the big hill."

Boys

Kyler Holinde took 28th out of 102 racers by running a 17:53.15. Jack Milam ran a 19:53.12 for 63rd followed by Ted See in 66th with a 19:59.79 time. Garrett Thompson, Rowen Kloker and Adam Mickelson grouped together to take 7125, 72nd, and 73rd, respectively. Thompson ran a 20:23.23 followed closely by Kloker at 20:23.33. Mickelson finished the course in 20:28.75.

Boys JV

Owen Thompson led the JV team with a time of 21:26.77 and a 21st showing out of 60 competitors. Jack Miller took 25th place with a 21:46.65 time. Gage Larsen ran a 23:56.00 to take 45th and Aaron Mickelson took 50th place with a 25:06.15 time.

Phillips said, "Just about everyone ran faster this week than Billings: Owen Thompson ran 2:02 faster this week! Kyler Holinde was holding back a bit and still ran faster than he did in his second race last year. Jack Milam ran another 41 seconds faster than last week, and Ted See ran over a minute faster. And it was a great group of boys from 3-6: Ted, Garrett, Rowen and Adam were only 29 seconds apart total. Garrett and Rowen were less than a second apart, both over 50 seconds faster than last week. And Adam Mickelson is just getting into shape but still ran faster than in Billings. And Jack Miller and Aaron Mickelson each had personal bests too! 

"The only ones who didn't have a great day were Kyler Whitman - he's battling an abdominal strain and I pulled him mid-race because it was still hurting badly. And Gage Larsen had some pretty bad knee pain - though he still ran more than a minute faster than his second week last year. 

"Overall, the boys ran 7:47 faster than last week, and 2:25 faster than week #2 last year."

Girls

Haleigh Huntsman led the girls with a time of 22:29.22 and a 38th place showing out of 72 runners. Kheyerah Bilger took 46th at 23:04.32 followed closely by Kimber Dulaney at 23:07.75 and 47th place. Riley Evenson-Glasoe ran a 24:02.08 for 58th place. Jensina Tweten ran a 24:16.74 for 61st place. Josie kemp finished the course in 27:00.39 for 68th place an Mary Dykema took 72nd with a 29:27.67 time.

"For the girls, they weren't as tightly packed, but we still had some big improvements! Haleigh was 45 seconds faster than last week, Kheyerah was 1:22 faster than last week, and Kimber was right behind her, 2:10 faster than last week. With her hamstring issues last year, we didn't even get Kimber under 24 minutes until late September. Her time this week was just 27 seconds slower than state last year, so we are way ahead with her! Riley had a great race, over a minute faster than las week. Jensina powered through 1:46 faster. We're being careful with Josie's knees, so we didn't run her in Billings. In Williston she was 27 seconds laster than all of last year. And Mary had a real good effort, 2:31 faster than Billings. 

"Overall, the girls ran 9:42 faster than last week, and 4:03 faster than week #2 last year," Phillips said.

Glasgow will compete at the Havre Invite Saturday, Sept. 14, with races beginning at 10 a.m. Phillips concluded, "I'm looking forward to going to Havre on Saturday: we'll run against the Poplar girls and Harlem boys for the first time. They both look really good early, so it should be fun to compete with them!"