Runners ahead of last season

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Newcastle Cross Country team traded the hills and heat of the opening meet at Mallo for a flat course and cool temps in Spearfish last Friday, and the trade paid off.
All but one runner saw an improvement over their time from last season with a couple of impressive drops. Bridger Alishouse dropped an impressive 3:14 from his previous performance and Tristan Troftgruben busted out of the gate and recorded a 16:58.23 in his fourth place finish. 
Not only was this Troftgruben’s career best run but, according to head coach Kathy Beehler, this is possibly the first Dogie to run a 16 on that course in her tenure.
“Sometimes Tristan goes out too fast, so we’ve been trying to address that. When he ran at Mallo, he felt like he still had some left in the tank when he finished so felt he had taken it out too slow,” she explained. “He knew he could go out a little faster at Spearfish so he did and he looked smooth and comfortable the whole way. He is getting a handle on where his balance - or sweet spot - is and that’s awesome!”
The top four runners for the men’s team ran at least a minute faster than last year, and are starting to pack together much better. Beehler stated that the first four are running and finishing close together and runners five through eight are close as well. However, she admitted that there is still too much separation between four and six, which can impact team scores.
That very scenario played out on Friday. When scores were totaled at the end of the race, the Dogies were tied for second place with Sturgis, each scoring 78 points. However, because Newcastle’s pusher finished behind the runner from Sturgis, the Dogies had to settle for third.
“We looked at that and asked if any of us could have run just a few seconds faster, and passed just one person, especially a Sturgis kid to give us a two point swing,” Beehler nodded. “We’re talking about how that affects us and how we can find just a little bit more in the tank.”
Carson Bock was the second Dogie across the finish line, coming in 16th with a time of 18:04.81. Zach Purviance was hot on his heels in 17th place, just three seconds behind. Avery Chick finished in 20th place with a time of 18:27.34, while Jacob Rhoades closed out the top five in 33rd place. 
Mathew Drake was 36th, Collin Dudzinski was 39th and Max Makousky rounded it out for the Dogies in 41st place.
The Lady Dogies are still struggling with injuries so were unable to roster enough to form a team for a score, however, those who did race also finished better than 2018. 
Hailey McGuire was the lead runner for the second week in a row, finishing 17th in a time of 21:45, a full 1:10 ahead of last year’s time. Newcomer, Laila King was the only other runner competing in the varsity race, and she finished in 31st place in 25:02.28.
Alaina Laurence and Avery Alishouse each competed in the junior varsity division
finishing 21st and 22nd respectively. 
“Hailey is looking very strong this year, and Avery ran faster than she did last year in Spearfish,” Beehler began. “This was Alaina’s first time running three miles this year so we had her run at a tempo pace rather than race. We are just working to try to get them healthy.”
This week the team heads to Belle Fourche. The course offers some challenging hills and the temperature looks to also be warmer than last Friday. 
“The next three weeks, the hills get a little harder so if we can be dropping times and be running tougher courses, we’ll be happy,” Beehler smiled. “We’re hoping to have a full team for the women this week, but will wait until the last minute to make that decision.”