HELENA – The Seeley-Swan High School Cross County team took to the Capital City 7-on-7 cross country meet Oct. 4. Sophomore Caleb Maughan and junior Jayla Kauffman ran new personal records (PR) for the season.
According to Head Coach Zelda Haines, the clock at the one-mile split gave runners the impression they were running faster than they were. She gave them a target of a 6:25-6:30 first mile and then pick up the pace each mile to finish in under 20 minutes.
The first mile clock read 5:51 for sophomore Caleb Maughan and 6:08 for senior Cordell Turner and 6:16 for freshman Hannah Ayers. Maughan saw his first split and Haines said he actually slowed himself down because he thought he went out too fast. Others did the same and were getting passed.
“The other coaches noticed it too,” said Haines. “I don’t know where the clock made up the extra time but it did.”
Maughan added two seconds to his PR from Arlee finishing in 20:02 with a 6:47 mile pace for the 3.2 mile race. Turner finished in 22:07 with a pace of 7:32 per mile.
Junior Levi Reinitz was back on the course as well. He finished in 23:53.26 with a 6:53 first mile time and 8:11 per mile overall.
Ayers led the Lady Blackhawks finishing in 22:05 with a 7:28 per mile overall.
Kauffman ran with spikes for the first time and shaved more than a minute off her time from the Mountain West Classic. She finished in 26:59, with the first mile reported at 7:48, a solid 9 per mile pace for the race.
Haines said she is so proud of how well Kauffman is doing, improving every race.
Haines hopes to get everyone in spikes and post their fastest times on the flat course at Linda Vista in Missoula on Wednesday, Oct. 10. This is the final race for the middle schoolers.
The varsity runners head to the State meet Oct. 20 at the University of Montana Golf Course, Missoula.
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