Cats run well at Glacier Invite, take second

The Glacier Invitational offered a race closer to home for the Herd of Turtles cross country team Thursday and both the varsity girls and boys would find themselves pacing their way to a 2nd place finish.  The girls’ team would finish with 54 points behind Glacier’s 15, and ahead of Bigfork’s 79.  For the boys’ team, they would have 45 points, also behind Glacier’s 17, but well ahead of Bigfork’s 82.

“It was nice to return to the course at Rebecca Farms.  We raced there a month ago, so it gave a good indication of how we’ve improved,” said head coach Jim Peacock.

“Noelle Svennungsen ran the fastest race for our girls with a time of 20:09.  She's closing in on breaking that 20 minute barrier.  She's still learning things about race strategies and race management, and good things are going to keep happening as she gains experience to go with her ability and competitiveness.  Tessa Pachecco was our second girl to finish.  She has a very competitive personality and is running well, especially for someone new to the sport.  Hazel Alexander was dialed in and raced really well.  She shaved about thirty seconds from her time a month ago, and she's still getting stronger and faster.  It's just a joy to see her racing this well.  I thought the girls' team ran well as a whole.  They are continuing to shave time and gain experience.  We have a few weeks before the State meet to keep improving, and I like what they've accomplished so far,” commented Peacock about the girls.

As for the boys:

“Connor Jordan led the boys' team again this week, running a PR 17:10, good for 5th place.  He spent most of the meet running alone.  The front pack of Glacier kids was a little out of reach, and Connor was stuck in no man's land between the lead group and the next group of runners.  I was impressed with his ability to stay focused and dig into the discomfort of a race without having anyone directly with him to go head to head with.  Eamon Schule also ran well, coming in 20 seconds back from Connor and finishing 6th.  The boys' team packed up pretty tightly again, and they did a good job pacing off each other.  Gabe Coburn had another big day of improvement and is running about a minute and a half faster than he was a month ago.  He's adding a little firepower to our scoring potential,” said Peacock.  

The Herd will be on the road again this week as the varsity will be heading one way on Thursday to Helena while the JV will head to Pablo on Saturday for the Mission Shadows Meet.

“Varsity teams are going to Helena to run in the Tracy Logan 7of7 meet.  It has a high level of competition, and it has a little different format than most cross country meets.  It has seven separate varsity races.  The top runners from each team race, the second runners from each team race their own competition, the third does the same, and so on.  The kids don't get to pace off their own teammates, so it's a great day for our kids to learn a little more about their own abilities,” said Peacock.