We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
The Chinook Girls Cross Country team continues to show rapid improvement in this, their first ever season. The team of five won the Box Elder/Rocky Boy Invitational in Havre last Friday. Left to Right: Senior Anna Terry, Jeni Mord, Kirbey Hofeldt, Ryley Hofeldt and Emma Klingamen.
The Chinook Sugarbeeters continue to get stronger each time they compete. Each course presents a new challenge but every week the kids have met them head on and got stronger because of it. Senior Anna Terry won her second and third race of the season. Freshman Emma Klingamen and junior Corey Bilger both established new personal bests.
Terry took home top honors Monday in Havre at the Box Elder/Rocky Boy Invitational. The race took place at the Beaver Creek golf Course. Terry completed her race all alone in a time of 21:36. Klingamen earned a third place finish with a time of 26:19. Freshman Kirbey Hofeldt crossed the line in 28:02, sophomore Jeni Mord clocked in at 28:52 and junior Ryley Hofeldt finished in 28:55. Bilger crossed the finish line in 24:30 to finish eleventh in the boy's race.
Friday in Shelby the team ran the Marias Valley Golf Course with everyone who ran turning in a great effort. Terry won her third straight race, finishing in 20:16.93. Klingamen also established a new mark for herself, completing the race in 24:12.15. Kirby concluded her race in 26:30.99 and Ryley turned in a 26:56.72.
Bilger has been steady all season long finishing his races in the middle twenty four minute range, Friday he ran through the course in 23:07.48, crushing his previous best by 1:18.82. Sophomore Lance Pitkanen was back racing after missing time with a severe cold. Pitkanen battled his way through the course finishing in 29:57.39.
Currently Terry is the No. 5 ranked runner in Class C in the state of Montana with a 20:03 recorded at the Scottie Invitational ran at Fort Peck Reservoir on September 17.
Chinook Head Coach, Kendall Harwood, was really pleased with his team's effort in Shelby Friday evening, "It was awesome, green beautiful golf course. The temperatures were cool, the course was a little bit soggy so there were mud puddles for the kids to jump over. Anna did great, started out fast. There were two girls pretty close to her, really trailing off her. She stayed ahead the whole time and even got some distance built up between them at the end and picked up another victory for the Sugarbeeters."
Harwood had plenty of good things to say about every athlete on the team, "Emma got into the twenty four minute range. She was really opening up her stride near the end. The last mile she really made a move, sped up and passed a few girls and covered some ground. Big PR (Personal Record) for her." Harwood followed by stating, "Corey Bilger got a PR for himself as well, he had a steady pace all race."
"Our other two girls, Ryley and sophomore Kirby, got in the twenty six minute area so that is big for them. Jeni was sick that day. Lance is battling back from being sick. He is still trying to get over his cold, but he wanted to run and powered through to the end."
Heading into the final three weeks of the season Harwood is focused on getting his team ready for State, "We're going to be training through our next meet, this is kind of crunch time for us. We are going to train hard; this is really the time where we need to start getting them to their peak and hopefully they all get there."
The 'Beeters will be in Malta this Friday and then conclude the regular season in Harlem on Friday, August 14. The Sugarbeeters will then head to Missoula for the Class C Cross Country Meet on Saturday, October 22. All seven 'Beeter runners have already qualified for the state meet.
