September 1, 2015

Cross Country teams take second at Killdeer

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

Watford City’s boys and girls cross country teams had a strong showing at their first meet of the season on Aug. 27, as both teams took second place at the Killdeer Meet.
Asha Smith was back in running form as she won the girls division with a time of 12 minutes on the 3K course. Devin Schmitz paced the boys team with a sixth place finish in a time of 15.54 on the 4K route.
“Both the boys and girls ran extremely well on a humid day,” stated Greg Brown, Wolves’ cross country coach. “We went out hard on the races to see where we are at and that then tells me what we need to work on more.”
The Killdeer meet was run on  shortened distances than at a normal meet, and Brown says that caused some troubles for the runners.
“Some of our athletes got out a little fast because of the shortened distances, and struggled at the end,” stated Brown. “But we saw a lot of improvement and hard work that shows that we can have a very competitive season.”
Kayla Ogle and Hayley Ogle finished in third and ninth place at the meet with times of 12:10 and 13.42, respectively, for Watford City.
Also placing for the Wolves’ girls team was Ellie Schmitz, 11th, 14:35; Gabby Hogue, 26th, 16:40; Amelia Honstein, 32nd, 20:00; and Svea Pearson, 33rd, 23:33.
Following Schmitz across the finish line for the Watford City boys team was Dakota Garmann, 7th, 16:09; Raehs Peutz, 10th, 16:19;  Osman Leon, 15th, 16:43; Ethan Lyon, 25th, 17:34; Jack Gillispey, 28th, 18:07; Cauy Hartel, 30th, 19:08; and Andrew Trotter, 35th, 20:31
“We have seen a lot of improvement since the first day of practice,” states Brown. “We are pushing and they are finding out that they can run longer and farther than they thought they were capable of doing.”
The Wolves’ next meet will be on Sept. 3, when they compete at the Bowman Meet.

WATFORD CITY WEATHER