Runners put up good times

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogies were off and running in a uniquely 2020 race format last Saturday in Buffalo, and head coach Kathy Beehler was very pleased with how her athletes adapted to, and performed on the day.
“We had a pretty good meet and almost everyone cut time from our first meet,” Beehler exclaimed. “Everyone had a good race, and there were a few who really poured it on!”
Due to the restriction of only 112 runners per race, the meet was conducted in shifts throughout the day. In the morning the men were divided into three heats based on seed times, and the women ran in one race. Then in the afternoon, there were two men’s races and two women’s races. When they were all finished, the results were combined to show the overall finish of all runners.
Newcastle ran in the morning and as such, Beehler was required to send in realistic times for her athletes in order for them to be seeded in the appropriate heat. The fastest times ran in the first race, then the next group ran second while the rest ran in the third.
Beehler determined her runner’s times by looking at their finishes from their first race of the season and then reduced those times by 10 seconds.
“It was hard because I didn’t want to be that coach who sent in inflated, unrealistic times,” Beehler explained. “But at the same time, I didn’t want my kids to lose the opportunity to run in the heat they should.”
All of the Dogie men were seeded in the first two heats and as it turned out, Beehler actually underestimated her runners’ times as almost every one was faster than she had anticipated.
Zach Purviance finished in second place overall, which is the second week in a row that he has done that. In addition, the senior cut 25 seconds off his time from the previous race finishing in 18:20.
Bridger Alishouse moved up in the standings by finishing sixth in 18:30, which is 1:21 faster than he was in Newcastle. Carson Bock was the third Dogie to finish in the top 10 coming in ninth in 19:02.
“Zach has really been racing well and he’s getting faster which is awesome,” Beehler beamed. “Bridger also had a great race and got past Carson who was ahead of him last week.”
Other Dogies who showed impressive improvements in their times included Mathew Drake who was the fourth Dogie across the line, finishing in 22nd place with a time of 20:22.9 which was 1:38 faster than last week. Max Makousky cut 1:11 coming in 30th in 21:08, and Gunner Ramsey made the biggest jump as he dropped almost four minutes off his time from the first meet of the season. 
Freshman Teegan Hatheway was the fifth Dogie finisher in the varsity division after excelling in the JV division last week.
“We changed a lot of places in the guys’ race which is good because it tells everyone they have a shot,” Beehler smiled. “It gives the newbies added motivation to keep working hard and it pushes the veterans to not be complacent.”
In the ladies race, Alaina Laurence was the first to cross the finish line for Newcastle coming in 15th with a time of 26:13, which was nearly three minutes faster than her finish last week. Freshman Janaya Ralls wasn’t far behind in 20th place, while Lara Lopez was close behind Ralls in 22nd. 
“Runners are getting tougher mentally, and they are figuring out how to dig down and compete,” Beehler nodded. “When our body gets tired and is telling us to stop, we need to tell our body we can go harder. It can do so much more than we think it can and once you realize you can do it, you will.”
This week the Dogies are headed to Wheatland on Friday. It will be a morning/afternoon format but once again, Beehler will not know exactly when they will run and who all will be there. 
“It’s just how things are going to roll this year,” laughed Beehler. “I feel like a coach who doesn’t have a clue what I’m doing, but I guess we’re all in the same boat. We’re just going to have to roll with it.”