Cross Country teams open season at Bowman
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
With State Champion Asha Smith leading Watford City’s girls cross country team and a full slate of boys anxious to show their talent, Watford City’s Cross Country teams are ready for their first meet of the 2014 season at Bowman on Aug. 28.
And Greg Brown, Wolves’ cross country head coach, shares his runner’s excitement with the start of the new season.
“We have been running for the past couple of weeks starting to get into shape,” states Brown. “This year we are starting off with a boys team that has been working hard and are hungry for a top-five finish at the State Meet.”
Last year, the boys team finished in sixth place at State. And Brown feels that with the addition of new runners, the chance of improving on last year’s finish is good.
“We picked up some new runners this year in Raehs Peutz and Lathan Smith,” states Brown. “Both runners came into team camp looking very good, and are ready to work hard with the rest of the team.”
Returning letter winners from last year’s team are Osman Leon, Devin Schmitz, Michael Brown, Hunter DeFoe, Cauy Hartel, Dakota Garmann, Trevor Alveshere and Jack Gillispey.
“These boys have been working hard in practice and are getting better each and every day,” states Brown. “The team has been hurt by some injuries and we have lost one of our top runners due to a knee injury, so we are looking for the able runners to keep working hard and improve from day to day.”
While Brown has a full boys team, he is still looking to find additional girls interested in competing.
“We do need five girls to compete as a team, and at this point we are short on numbers,” states Brown. “After the first day of school, I am very hopeful that we will reach the magic number of five with some extra girls to help the team become better.”
Returning to this year’s girls team is senior Addison Sundeen and juniors Lea Arndt and Asha Smith.
“Smith is the returning State Champion from last year’s State Cross Country Meet and will be looked upon to lead the girls team and teach the whole team how to work to become better,” states Brown.
Sundeen and Arndt are both dual-sport athletes, who in addition to competing in cross country, are members of the Watford City volleyball team.
“They are working hard in both sports so their names may not appear as much in the paper due to being at volleyball matches during some of our meets,” states Brown. “But they will be working hard to become the best they can every day in practice, and I look for good things to happen for them at the State Meet in October.”