“It was very windy today but the team worked hard through that,” said MHS girls head coach Carla Wahlund.

Not only did the teams have to work through the wind, they also had to attack a gnarly hill.

“The Minot course is a very tough course,” Wahlund said. “Not only is there a big hill, but you have to run that hill twice and you really have to mentally prepare for it.” Despite these obstacles, boy’s head coach Aaron Klingbeil said the races were competitive, with the boys finishing fourth of 11 teams.

“We take a lot of pride in our course and the community race was a nice addition,” Klingbeil said. “It was a good day to race even with the breeze and the team score showed that it was highly competitive.”

Ashton Gerard/MDN Junior Noah Keller faces the hill for the second time at the invitational. Keller finished fourth for the Magi and 38 overall with a time of 18:28.42

The Magi’s top scorers that earned the team 163 points included Devan Forbes, Bailey Bonham, Noah Jacobs, Noah Keller, William Walker-Rozo, Hunter Cope, Griffin Schaeffer, Cameron Goodman and Trenton Brown.

“(Forbes) and (Bonham), our two front guys, were experimenting with racing different packs and both had good races making good decisions,” Klingbeil said. Forbes finished 19 overall with time of 17:42.18 while Bonham finished 30 overall with a time of 18:04.99.

“The next four guys (after Forbes and Bonham) made a good pack finish and that’s something we’ve really been working on,” Klingbeil said. “The boys didn’t start out running that way but we have found that they run better working together.”

Klingbeil says they have two packs of boys they are training to run together to place in significant scoring slots by the state meet at the end of this month. The boys were interrupted at the 13 minute mark by runners moving around them but it is something the team is still striving for.

The Majettes finished fourth out of 10 teams in their race. The top scorers for the Majettes include Abby Hoffarth, Allie Wahlund, Adrianna Wilder, Maliah Burke, Lily-ana Campbell, Trinity Jessen, Lizzy Folk, Ella Francis and Allie Nelson. The Majettes earned a total of 86 points.

Ashton Gerard/MDN Sophomore Abby Hoffarth attacks the hill at the Minot Souris Valley Invite on Saturday. Hoffarth finished first for the Majettes and 12 overall with a time of 20:07.86.

“Some of the girls didn’t race today,” Wahlund said. “We’re saving their legs for the WDA so we can have some really solid scoring finishes.”

Even though not all the girls were there, the team still worked well together.

“I really want to congratulate the whole team,” said Wahlund, when asked if any runners stood out to her. “There were so many runners that ran as a pack and that’s really awesome.”

As for overall performance, Wahlund said the girls do great in practice and need to work on translating that into their actual races.

Both Magi and Majettes cross country teams head off to Williston Saturday to run in the Western Dakota Association Regionals. The Magi are scheduled to run at 3 p.m. and the Majettes are scheduled to run at 4 p.m. at the Williston Municipal Golf Course.