Newcastle’s cross country season ends

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogies made the incredibly long drive to Afton last Thursday, hoping to finish their season strong at the 3A State Cross Country Meet. Unfortunately, the deck was stacked against the Dogies with a couple of runners dealing with injuries and illnesses, the thinner air of the higher elevation of the course and inclement weather.
While every runner competing had to deal with the wintery conditions, those teams unaccustomed to running at 6,200 feet were at a little bit of a disadvantage.
“We had some runners who really ran well, and some didn’t have their best race,” head coach Kathy Beehler admitted. “Injuries and illness were still nagging a couple of our guys, which unfortunately hit at the wrong time of the season. They ran as well as they could at the moment, but definitely not their best.”
Carson Bock finished the race once again as his team’s top finisher, crossing the finish line in 21st place with a time of 18:24.30. Avery Chick and Tristan Troftgruben were next for the Dogies in 37th and 38th.  
“Carson ran a good race. I thought he might get anywhere from 15th to 20th and kind of sneak in to the top, and he ended up getting 21st so he did about as he was expected to do,” Beehler nodded. “Avery and Tristan also both ran well and had an exciting finish to watch.”
Chick and Troftgruben were neck and neck coming down the stretch and, to the observer, crossed the finish line at the exact same time. Each runner wore a chip on the left side of their jersey because the chip reader was positioned on the left side of the finish line. Troftgruben was running on the left, and Chick on the right so the chip reader didn’t read Chick’s finish because Troftgruben’s body was blocking his chip.
At the end of the race, Beehler and assistant coach Cody Nelson saw there was no finish for Chick so they alerted the race supervisors and they had to go back to the video and slow down the film to determine which of the two had actually crossed first.
It turned out that Chick edged out Troftgruben by .10 of a second to be the second Dogie across the finish line. 
Bridger Alishouse was next after Troftgruben in 67th, while Teegan Hatheway was three seconds behind in 68th. Mathew Drake finished in 74th and Zach Purviance came in 81st, and the team’s combined score of 229 points gave the Dogies a ninth place finish as a team. 
“It was a long trip, and we went down really hoping to be among the top five when it all shook out and if the cards had been right, we could have been there,” Beehler nodded. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way, but I was proud of how they carried themselves after the race as individuals and as a team.”
“When a race doesn’t go as planned it’s disappointing,” Beehler continued. “But then you just have to use those setbacks as your motivation to set new goals for your future endeavors. I was proud of all of our runners because I thought they ran the very best race they could on that day.”
Only three Lady Dogies ran on Friday, and so they were unable to compete as a team. However, individually Beehler was happy with how they raced. 
Janaya Ralls was the first of the three to cross the finish line in 72nd with a time of 24:31.56. Tara Carter was next in 84th and Alaina Laurence came in close on her heels in 86th. In doing so, Laurence improved her time by over two minutes from her previous few races.
As the team boarded the bus to begin the long trek home, Beehler noted that she was so pleased to hear them talking very realistically about their performance on the day and their goals for the future.
“It was really awesome because they didn’t make any excuses, and they were already setting goals for the spring track season and talking about what they needed to do over the winter to try to reach those goals,” Beehler beamed. “We’ve talked a lot about the fact that we want our program to be a legacy to be proud of, and the kids are doing a great job of wanting to do whatever is necessary to maintain that. They know they are responsible for bringing the young kids up and setting the standard by mentoring the newbies.” 
Beehler bid adieu to seniors Bock, Purviance, Alishouse, Conrad Prell, Gunner Ramsey, Laurence and Lara Lopez. However, the squad will return their top two finishers for the girls and the four of the top seven for the boys. While Beehler is pleased to have a good core returning, she admitted that losing her seniors is difficult.
“Our seniors are a big part of this team and we are going to miss them, and they will leave some big holes,” she frowned. “Our returning guys will need to step up to fill those shoes and the new freshmen will need to step up and contribute right away.”