Wolves girls take 4th, boys 8th at Watford Cross Country meet
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Watford City’s cross country teams continued to improve their times as they competed in two meets this past week. On Tuesday, the Wolves hosted a meet that saw the Watford City girls take fourth place, while the boys team took eighth place. And then on Saturday, the teams competed in Beulah with the girls placing in fourth place while the boys team came in sixth.
At the Watford City Invitational, Kristen Stenehjem led the varsity girls with a 15th place finish with a time of 17:35, while Dustin Kleppen led the varsity boys team with a time of 20:53.
“The athletes have been working extremely hard in practice,” stated Greg Brown, Wolves’ head coach. “We have increased our intensity and ran two very hilly courses this past week. On the boys’ side, most set personal best times for the season last week.”
Other varsity girls placing were Kade Ross, 22nd, 18:03; Jayme Johnson, 28th, 18:20; Kara Wold, 29th, 18:20; Tara Loomer, 33rd, 18:45; Bessie Schmitz, 39th, 19:06; Hollie Griggs, 52nd, 19:44; and Sarah Newton, 73rd, 26:38.
Others placing in the varsity boys division were Dillon Smith, 50th, 22:22; Logan Gumke, 51st, 22:27; John Meuchel, 52nd, 22:46; Reid Brown, 61st, 24:39; and Colt Nicholson, 66th, 28.19.
Watford City’s junior high girls took second place on Tuesday with Addison Sundeen placing first with a time of 12:56, while Lea Arndt placed fourth with a time of 13:26.
At the Beulah meet on Saturday, Kristen Stenehjem was the top finisher for the Wolves varsity girls with a 23rd place finish in a time of 18:41, while Dillon Smith led the Watford City boys with a time of 20.57.
Other varsity girls competing were Kara Wold, 25th, 18:48; Addison Sundeen, 29th, 19:02; Tara Loomer, 30th, 19:08; Bessie Schmitz, 33rd, 19:23; Kade Ross, 34th, 19:37; Lea Arndt, 35th, 19:38; Sarah Newton, 72nd, 28:08.
Also placing in the varsity boys division was Dustin Kleppen, 36th, 21.25; John Meuchel, 37th, 21:30; Logan Gumke, 38th, 21:31; Alex Hansen, 53rd, 22:54; Reid Brown, 55th, 23:44; Colt Nicholson, 59th, 25:26; and Casey Bolman, 60th, 25:39.
In the junior high boys divison, James Devers took 32nd with a time of 14:28.
“Both varsity teams are grouping runners very nicely, and are working together to make each other better runners,” comments Brown. “These athletes deserve a lot of praise for all of their efforts in practice and how well they represent our school in competition. Every day they go out to make themselves better athletes.”
The next meet for the Wolves will be on Sept. 30 when they run in Williston.