Plains runners excede hopes
Wow, what a day! That’s the thought that kept coming back into my mind as the Plains Cross Country teams made their way back from the Ronan Invitational cross country meet this past Saturday. Coming into the meet, I had been careful not to get my hopes up. The training load for the team had been pretty significant during the past couple of weeks; and, many of the kids on the team had been fighting colds or minor illness. But, on a bright and sunny day, the kids more than exceeded my expectations. With five high school boys and three girls competing, personal records (PR’s) were set or equaled by six of the athletes.
Before the high school team’s competition, the middle school teams hit the course for their two-mile races. First out of the gate were the junior high girls, led by Carley VonHeeder. Her 15:21 time brought her home in 16th place. Following VonHeeder were Sheridan Martin (17:23 for 42nd place) and Sera Boggess (20:58 for 51st place).
Next up was Ryan Ovitt in the boys’ middle school race. Covering the course in 13:14, Ovitt’s time placed him 13th out of 52 competitors. This was the longest race to date for the middle school team (their normal distance is 1.5 miles); and, the kids all did an excellent job of handling the extra distance.
Then it was on to the High School races and the barrage of new PR’s. Running in the girls’ junior varsity race, Teija Gill got the ball rolling with her second PR in as many weeks. Her 29:02 time was a 90 second improvement over her time from Missoula last weekend. It’s amazing to realize that Teija has dropped her three mile time by about 12 minutes since the start of the season.
In the boys’ junior varsity race, David Damschen’s 21:31 finish time was just four seconds off his best time. But, younger brother Daniel brought his time down by almost 2:30. Both David and Daniel are new to cross country running; but, they have both made significant progression in their performances since we started practice just six weeks ago.
The varsity girls were the next to set the course on fire. Andrea Wood decided to blow right past the sub-24 minute barrier and went all the way to sub-23 minute with a finish of 22:57 (a PR of over one minute). While not setting a PR, Zoe Banovich’s time of 24:36 was an excellent performance given that she was fighting the effects of a lingering cold and some nagging knee pain.
For the varsity boys, Carter Montgomery’s excellent season continues. Equaling his PR at 16:15, Carter finished fourth overall. After running in the chase pack for the first two miles, a huge surge in the final mile saw him being beat by only three runners from the Class AA ranks. Finishing 22nd, Kenneth Beech’s 17:39 was a personal best time; and, the third best Class B performance of the day. Having a big kick over the last 200 meters, Robert Earhart had his first ever sub-18 minute performance. His 17:47 time saw him placing 24th overall and fourth among the B competitors.
It’s not often that you have stellar performances by virtually everyone on the team on the same day. So, I’m really “savoring the moment.” But, I have a hunch that the kids aren’t quite satisfied and have the desire to perform like this at all of our remaining meets. And, with the always fast Thompson Falls course on tap for this Thursday, I would love nothing more than to have to re-write the seasonal and personal best lists again this week.