September 25, 2013

Cross Country teams continue to show improvement

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

Watford City’s cross country teams battled hot temperatures and sickness this past week as the Wolves competed in meets in Watford City and Valley City.
On Tuesday, the Wolves hosted their own invitational at the Fox Hills Country Club. Hayley Moe was the top finisher for the Watford City varsity girls team with a 13th place finish in a time of 19:14, while Addison Sundeen finished in 17th place with a time of 19:59.
On the boys side, Braedon Gumke led the Wolves with a 16th place finish in a time of 21:11, while Michael Brown finished in 17th place in 21:13 and Devin Schmitz was 18th in a time of 21:19.
Rounding out the other Watford City boys place finishers was Logan Gumke, 22nd, 22:12; Cole McGorman, 26th, 23:07; Osman Leon, 28th, 23:35; Dakota Garmann, 29th, 23:35; Dillon Smith, 32nd, 24:00; Jake Gillespey, 38th, 25:35; Jade Hepper, 39th, 26:23; Trevor Alveshere, 40th, 26:27; and Cody Kirkland, 41st, 26:36.
In the junior high girls division, Chelsea Cryer took 12th with a time of 17:37, while in the junior high boys division, Cauy Hartel placed ninth with a time of 15:29.
“This week was a tough week for our team,” stated Greg Brown, Wolves’ head coach. “We started off with our meet on Tuesday, which is a very difficult course because of the large hill in the middle of the course and it was an extremely hot day.”
On Saturday, the Wolves traveled to Valley City to compete on the course which will be the site of the State Meet at the end of October.
“Saturday was a perfect day for running,” stated Brown. “The temperature and wind was very cooperative and allowed some very good times to be ran.”
Again, because of sickness, the Wolves ran without some of their key athletes, but overall Brown was happy with results.
In the Bill Jansen Blue-White Invitational at Valley City, Hayley Moe placed 30th in the junior varsity girls division.
In the boys junior varsity division, Braedon Gumke led the team with a 29th place finish with a time of 19:24.
Also placing at Valley City was Devin Schmitz, 32nd, 19:40; Michael Brown, 38th, 19:59; Logan Gumke, 51st, 20:25; Cole McGorman, 82nd, 20:56; Dakota Garmann, 85th, 21:03; Osman Leon, 106th, 21:48; Jack Gillespey, 114th,     21:59; Trevor Alveshere, 157th, 23:42; and Cody Kirkland, 167th, 24:07.
In the junior high boys division, Cauy Hartel finished in 91st place with a time of 14:37.
“On the girls side, we have been dealing with some sickness, so basically we pulled some of our runners so they could have more time to recover,” stated Brown. “They are all more then willing to run, but sometimes we need to rest them so we are healthy for the end of the season.”
And Brown sees big improvements in time for the boys team.
“The boys team made a huge step forward on Saturday,” stated Brown. “I am very impressed by what I saw on Saturday and how hard they are continuing to work. The boys have also had some illness, but most are staying healthy for now and I’m looking for exciting things to happen in the next few weeks.”
The next meet for the Wolves will be when they travel to the Glasgow Invitational on Saturday.

WATFORD CITY WEATHER