October 17, 2012

Wolves take 5th at Region

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

With Asha Smith pulling out of the West Region Cross Country Meet in Parshall on Saturday, Watford City’s girls team had to pick up the pace with the state’s top runner on the sidelines. And pick up the pace they did, with Hayley Moe turning in her best time of the season to help the Wolves’ girls team to a fifth place finish.
Moe finished the course in a time of 17:09 which was good for a 19th place finish, while Lea Arndt came in 25th with a time of 17:47.
In the boys varsity division, Dustin Kleppen and Guy Ross finished in the top 20 to help the Wolves to a fifth place finish.
Kleppen ran the course in 18:25 and finished in 15th place while Ross was just one second behind to finish in 16th place in a time of 18:26.
“I felt that the teams ran extremely well,” stated Greg Brown, Wolves’ head coach. “We had some athletes really step up and start running hard.  I have a good feeling that we could see some great times at the State meet in Dickinson on Oct. 27.”
According to Brown, he pushed the runners hard prior to the Region Meet and some of the athletes had tired legs on Saturday.
“That is the coach’s fault for getting out too fast on Friday,” states Brown.
“The times these athletes have been running in practice have been phenomenal. It’s just getting them ready to go on the right day.”
At the conclusion of the meet, Guy Ross was nominated as one of the three senior boy athletes as the Region Senior Athlete of the Year and Greg Brown was named the Girls Region Coach of the Year.
Also placing for the Watford City girls team behind Moe and Arndt was Addison Sundeen, 31, 17:59; Tara Loomer, 32, 18:11; McKayla Haugeberg, 34, 18:16; Kara Wold, 38, 18:26; and Katie Skarda, 59, 20:02.
Placing in the boys division behind Kleppen and Ross was Logan Gumke, 24, 18:47; Michael Brown, 31, 19:24; Devin Schmitz, 47, 20:44; Ted Ramage, 52, 21:32; Dakota Garmann, 60, 23:15; Trevor Alveshere, 61, 23:50; and Braedon Gumke, 64, 24:49.
Watford City’s junior high boys team took second place with Cole McGorman finishing third with a time of 11:55, followed by Hunter DeFoe, 8, 12:26; and Cale Bandelin, 11th, 13:28.

WATFORD CITY WEATHER