Season underway for Worland and Thermopolis cross-country runners

WORLAND - Both Worland High School and Hot Springs County High School got their seasons underway at the Billings Invitational last Friday.

WORLAND

Warrior senior Porter Harman finished second in Billings with a time of 16:07.74, both his time and placing were personal records for that course.

"Overall it was an amazing meet and I walked away a proud coach. It was a huge meet for Porter, he ran a 16:07 for second place. For him to PR by so much is awesome and it's also a good confidence builder," said WHS cross-country coach Tanya Kienlen.

Typically, the Billings meet is one of the hottest races of the season for Worland. This year, that wasn't the case as the Warriors and Lady Warriors runners took advantage of the cooler weather.

Senior Aaron Vigil and freshman Marley Downing used the nice weather to turn in excellent times. Vigil ran 18:35.30 and Downing a 24:15.96.

"The weather was perfect, in years past it's been a million degrees but it was a lot cooler this year and it was great for all runners," said Kienlen. "Aaron Vigil ran awesome to earn his first varsity spot. Then I had a freshman girl Marley Downing who is quiet but she's a smooth runner and tough. She's definitely showing some potential."

Worland was also able to check out some of their fellow 3A competitors like Buffalo, Cody and Powell and from what Kienlen saw those three teams are going to offer excellent competition each time they cross paths.

"It was a good starting point. I was able to get good times and we can move forward and improve on those times. We got a good look at our competition, yes there were a lot of Montana schools and 4A schools, but we got to see Buffalo, Cody and Powell. Those three teams are going to be tough this year," said Kienlen.

The Worland freshmen and other newcomers certainly impressed in their first outing as Warriors. What Kienlen especially liked was the grit they showed during Monday's tough practice.

The freshmen's, as well as the rest of the Worland team, next upcoming challenge is the Sheridan Invitational on Saturday. Though the season is still young Saturday's race is quite important as Sheridan plays host to the 3A State cross-country meet on October 20.

"The freshmen definitely stepped up their game and worked very hard. That's only going to add to our inter-squad competition and add to our results. They had their first race and came back Monday to compete in what we call our glow stick repeats, where they run in the evenings and tag team with glow sticks. It's fun but it's also a challenging workout that gives them more drive.

"Our wonderful freshmen, including Jackson Wassum who earned his spot on the varsity squad, will get to see the Sheridan course for the first time and visually prepare for state," said Kienlen.

Kienlen and her entire team also wanted to thank the community for coming out and supporting them during their Color Me Fun Run last Tuesday. The money raised allowed the team to purchase shoes and help with meals for when they are on the road.

HOT SPRINGS COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL

The Lady Bobcats also got their season off to an outstanding start. Junior Tahja Hunt set personal records for time, 20:07.29, and place, 10th, at the Billings Invitational.

"It was a good meet. Tahja was 10th and last year she was 21, that's a huge improvement. She went 21:55 last year and this year went 20:07, that's pretty amazing," said HSCHS Stephanie Metz.

Fellow Lady 'Cats McKenna Bomengen and Olivia Weyer held their own too. Bomengen did not set any personal records but Metz believes she'll make up for that during this week's meets in Riverton and Sheridan.

"McKenna gained a bit from last year but that's OK, it just wasn't her meet. She's been doing well in practice and I know she'll do better this week," said Metz.

Weyer fell a few places lower than she did last season, finished 72nd, but she did cut 40-plus seconds of last's year's Billings course time.

"Olivia dropped in the rankings but her time she dropped 43 seconds from last year. I was hoping for a little faster but for her to still drop that much time is awesome," said Metz.

Thermopolis' newcomers got their first taste of high school competitive racing. As expected there were nerves at the start but once the race started Metz liked how strong they looked on the course.

Before spraining her ankle, Amy Robinson was turning in an impressive time, Rebekah Johnson wasn't fazed by the competition, freshman Hallie Martinez impressed in her first race as a Lady 'Cats and the Bobcats only runner, Karsten Hart, got car sick on the way up to the race but gutted it out to finish the race.

"Amy Robinson was doing great her first mile and was just behind Olivia but then she rolled her ankle. She got up and tried to finish but that wasn't happening. We've lightened her mileage some to give her ankle some rest," said Metz. "Rebekah Johnson did great in her first race, she got to see what it's like running hard in the heat with close to 200 other girls. It was an eye-opener for her but she'll do well."

"Hallie Martinez has been running with us since she was a sixth-grader, she's never seen the Billings course and she was running against 218 girls at the JV level. She finished 45th and did great time wise. Karsten Hart got car sick on the way up and it was not the best way for him to start his high school career."

Thermopolis has two races on the docket for this week, today they're in Riverton for the Riverton Invitational and Saturday in Sheridan for the Sheridan Invitational. Having two meets so close makes the training schedule for Thermopolis a little lighter than usual, but Metz knows her team is going to be ready to roll for both races.

"I like to have two hard days for the week of practice and meets I consider hard days. With the two meets so close we've kept the mileage, decreased our strength a little bit and won't do any type of sprint work," said Metz.