Cross country season wraps up

The Moorcroft Cross Country scheduled meets were at Newcastle, Hardin, MT, Belle Fourche, SD, Ethete Pre State, Sheridan, Moorcroft (Pine Haven), Wheatland, Glenrock. Regionals at Hulett, State at Ethete.

The 2A Regional Meet in Hulett was cancelled due to there being a foot of snow on the course.

All Conference was selected at the State Meet.

Middle School runners: Carlee Roth and Ethan Walker.

Carlee improved her season time by 1:10 minutes, running her best meet time in Pine Haven with a time of 11:16. At the last meet of the season in Glenrock, Carlee ran an 11.58 where she took third place. 

Ethan improved his season time by an incredible four minutes, his season best time was also at Pine Haven with the time of 11:26. At the Glenrock meet, Ethan ran a 12:02 and took 4th place.

High School runners: Mallory Jones, Marcus James, Zackory Lowrey, Dominic Vargas and Angel Zahn (in alphabetical order).

Mallory Jones bounced around from mid 20:00 to mid 22:00 throughout the season. Her best 5K time was at Pine Haven with a 20:33 finish and finishing .04 seconds slower in Wheatland the next weekend. At the final meet of the regular season in Glenrock, she ran while she was sick and managed a gold medal finish with the time of 22:47. At the State Meet in Ethete, Mallory ran a very impressive 20:28.20 5K and took home a silver medal for her effort and All State Honors recognition. 

Marcus James hovered in the mid 20:00 range for the first few meets of the season, then pushed himself into the mid 19:00 range. His best time was at the Pine Haven meet where he ran a 19:17.39 5K. At the regular season ending meet in Glenrock, Marcus ran a time of 20:28. At the State Meet Marcus ran a time of 19:39.77 and earned All Conference honors. 

Zackory Lowrey, a first year runner, started the season with times in the 32:00 minute range and improved to a season best 5K time in Wheatland with a time of 24:57.

Dominic Vargas, another first year runner, hovered around the 20:00 to 22:00 minute marks for most of the season, his season best time was in Pine Haven with the time of 20:13. At State Dominic ran his 5K in 20:47.43. 

Angel Zahn is a resilient young lady who does not give up. She began her season running in the mid 44:00 minute mark. She knew that to compete at the culminating event in Ethete that she would have to improve. She did just that too... and ran her best 5K time at the Wheatland Invite with the time of 35:17 minutes. At the State meet Angel ran her 5K in the time of 38:40.37. 

I thought that these girls and guys had a very productive season. We were unable to compete as a team at any event because we just didn’t have the numbers to qualify as a team but they did well as singles runners and made an impression wherever they went.

Cross country is not for everybody, you have to be able to dig deep and encourage yourself and put in miles of “extra” running on your own because in this sport you can’t hide behind anyone.

Sometimes we don’t want to run, but we do it anyway. Sometimes we’re sick, but we do it anyway. Sometimes we want to hang out with our friends, but we do it anyway.

Sometimes life isn’t “fair” but you just have to do it anyway. Sometimes it sucks, but you do it anyway. Enjoy the suck, because you GET TO do it anyway.