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MHS cross country ready for state meet

Both the boys and girls Minot High School cross country teams have spent the past two weeks preparing for the biggest moment of the season — the state meet.

The state meet will show how hard these kids have trained, how many miles these kids have run, for one last opportunity to run the fastest time of their lives.

On Oct. 14, both teams competed in the WDA Regional Championships in Williston. The Majettes made it out in second place with five girls finishing in the top 20.

“I was very impressed (with the WDA),” said Majettes head coach Carla Wahlund. “They all did a wonderful job racing hard all the way through the finish.” Wahlund said there were many individuals that were able to pass to higher places in the last 100 meters.

Not only did they finish well, Adrianna Wilder finished as the WDA senior of the year and Wahlund received the WDA coach of the year award.

The top five girls from the WDA include Abby Hoffarth (19:47.86), Allie Wahlund (20:06.24), Wilder (20:08.71), Trinity Jessen (20:10.80), and Maliah Burke (20:26.37). Wilder, Jessen and Burke finished in a pack at 15, 16, and 17 place, which is something coach Wahlund hopes to see more of.

“I want to see that top crew run like a pack and attack (the race) hard, moving up to that next group of girls I know they can run with,” said coach Wahlund about what she hopes to see today. Other girls, like Lily-ana Campbell (21:09.05 at WDA) and Ashley Nelson (21:27.79 at WDA), can easily join that pack according to the head coach.

Wahlund hopes to see individuals running with confidence and trusting their training will take them to the level she knows they can race at.

“This is a very competitive state for distance runners,” Wahlund said. “If we are top five and run good times I will be pleased. I want them to run the times I know they can run.”

While the girl’s team made it out of the WDA with a confidence boost, the boy’s team left with a lot to learn from.

“Our WDA standing is lower than we would have liked,” said Magi head coach Aaron Klingbeil. “But we expected to take a bit of a performance hit this year.”

The boys got off to a slow start in the beginning of the season, leaving a lot of catch-up training and fatigued races. Not only have their legs not had a break all season, there were some tactical errors that made for good learning experiences according to Klingbeil.

The top five Minot finishers at the WDA for the boy’s team include Deven Forbes (17:27.77), Noah Jacobs (17:51.22), Bailey Bonham (18:01.93), William Walker-Rozo (18:34.79), and Austin Geyer (18:50.72). Though the performances weren’t quite what the coach or team wanted, they are pushing through to state.

For their top guys, Klingbeil would like to see the top racers have a great finish so that all the catch-up work will have paid off in the end. According to the coach, both Forbes and Jacobs like the “big stage” of state, so they are really looking for a big push for the team today. For their younger guys he really wants to see good pack finishes so they can come into the next season “with a strong drive to improve.”

“We’ve seen some great races from nearly every guy on our state team at some point this year,” said Klingbiel. “Our hope is to put those all together on the same day. If every single guy ran even 95 percent of what he was capable of doing (today), we’ll come out in a decent finish that makes our previous races a forgotten memory.”

The entire season is something Klingbiel hopes to make a thing of the past. They’ve trained hard all year for this opportunity, and now it’s time for the team to put in the work.

“In cross country, you can sacrifice the entire preseason for a good shot at the state meet,” said Klingbiel. “We’re talking with our boys about capitalizing on that sacrifice.”

To prepare, both team have been running low mileage at a higher pace to give their legs a fresh start while maintaining their training.

Neither team has run the state course this year, which is a blessing to Wahlund.

“Sometimes if (the race) doesn’t go well the first time, they have that bad mental attitude about it,” Wahlund said.

She says the runners will be fresh, they just need to go out and run the course like they know they can. About the course, Klingbiel said there will be spectators at every stretch so the adrenaline won’t really stop, encouraging the athletes to run hard and smart throughout the entire race.

Wahlund says this meet will be a fun one to witness, as there is a lot of talent throughout the state. The team scores will be close and it will really come down to the fourth, fifth and sixth place.

The girl’s race starts at 11 a.m. and boy’s is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. today at the Bjornson Park Golf Course in Valley City.

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