Harriers turn up in Sundance

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
It was another battle of the Northeast as Newcastle, Sundance, Wright, Hulett and Moorcroft lined up in Sundance last Friday. The finish line looked very similar to last week in Wright with Dogie runners finishing second through ninth place, however, finish times were much improved from the previous race.
“We had a much better week,” head coach Kathy Beehler exclaimed. “We had 11 people put up their season best time, and it was on a course that presented some challenges, so that is great.”
Beehler compared the Sundance course to the one in Belle Fourche, which consists of a couple of pretty good sized hills to conquer, so given this was a change from the relatively flat courses the teams have been presented with, Beehler was very pleased with how they performed.
Carson Bock set the pace for the Dogies yet again this week, crossing the finish line in second place with a time of 18:22.59.
“It was interesting, because Carson didn’t realize that the finish line was coming up as quickly as it was, and when it was all of a sudden there, he admitted that he still had some left in the tank,” Beehler laughed. “That’s good news though, because every time you run, you learn something that you take with you to the next meet, so Carson now has that knowledge going forward.”
Zach Purviance, who struggled last week in the smoke and heat of the race in Wright, rebounded in Sundance moving up to fourth place while dropping nearly two minutes from his time last week. 
Runners who got season bests include Gunner Ramsey who dropped a good minute and a half from his previous best time, Conrad Prell has dropped time from week to week and Friday was no exception as he went 21:18, and Tristan Troftgruben also has kept up his recent trend of cutting a full minute from his previous race by finishing in 18:33 which also earned him third place in the race.
Zander White went a full 2:00 faster than last week, while Teegan Hatheway and Nathan Strickland dropped as well.
Following Bock, Troftgruben and Purviance, the Dogies came in with Bridger Alishouse in fifth, Avery Chick in sixth, Hatheway in seventh, Max Makousky eighth and Mathew Drake in ninth. Prell was 12th for the second week in a row, White was right behind in 13th, Strickland was 18th, Ramsey 20th and Travis Scribner rounded it out for the team in 27th. 
The Lady Dogies also ran season records and finished as a pack for the first time this season in eighth through 11th places. 
“The girls had a great race, and they all ran faster than they have this season,” Beehler smiled. “They’re dropping time, they competed, and they just really worked hard at the meet which was great to see.”
Alaina Laurence returned to the lead spot as she finished in eighth with a time of 25:36.91. Janaya Ralls was ninth with 26:21.95 for a time, while Lara Lopez was right on her heels in 26:35.45. Tara Carter finished in 11th just 20 seconds behind Lopez. 
“It was a really good meet for us, especially after coming off of a disappointing performance last week,” Beehler nodded. “All of our kids continue to improve.”
Beehler noted she has a goal for the guys to drop into the 17s this week, and the squad has a good opportunity to do that this Friday when they compete in Wheatland, because according to Beehler, her team will be pitted against some tough competition in their race.
“The Wheatland coach called and said that he was going to put us up against some good teams, because we are really fun to watch,” Beehler explained. “I don’t know who it will be but that’s fun, and I’m hoping that will pull us along a little bit.”