Cross country hits the ground running

The starting pistol went off for the Dogie and Lady Dogie cross country teams as they began their 2022 season with their home meet at the Newcastle Country Club golf course on Thursday. Though the turnout for the meet was less than what head coach Kathy Beehler was hoping to see, she was pleased with how things went and how her young team performed in its first race. 
“I was super thankful that the golf course worked with us so well because it was just awesome. Our teams and our families were so appreciative that they let us have it, but I was a little disappointed with numbers,” Beehler began. “We had to move the meet from Friday to Thursday because the golf course had their calcutta
on Friday and had to get the course ready, and due to rescheduling, about half the teams who had planned on attending, had to cancel.”
Beehler admitted that she had considered canceling the home meet and going to Douglas to compete, however she opted to stay with it because with the cross country schedule it’s difficult for parents to be able to watch their child compete.
“It’s so nice to have a home meet that parents can go to,” she explained. “I just think it’s huge for parents to have the opportunity to cheer their child on and to see what cross country is all about.”
Despite the smaller size of the meet, Beehler felt good about her teams’ performance. 
The Dogie men were the only ones to be able to put up a team score, as you must have five runners to be eligible to do so. As such, the Dogies finished second as a team with 30 points, behind Torrington who ended the day with 25 points and first place. 
Individually, Thatcher Troftgruben was the first Dogie across the finish line, coming in second with a time of 18:44.33. Sam Scribner was close behind finishing in 19:39.90, which earned him fourth place. Freshman Sam Cunningham started his varsity career off with a seventh-place finish in 20:20.45, Nick Lopez was 11th, Logan Olson came in 14th, Ben Carter 15th, Archer Ohnstad 17th and Caleb Hoover rounded things out with his 19th-place finish. 
“The positives were that we ran faster than we did last year on the boys team, so that was awesome,” Beehler said. “Sam was 40 seconds faster, Nick and Logan were slightly faster, Ben was also 40 seconds faster, and Caleb was nearly three minutes faster!” 
Only two of the four Lady Dogies competed on Thursday, and as such couldn’t put up a team score. Even if all four runners had been there, they are one short of a team so they are still looking for a fifth to be able to put up a team score this year.
Aspen Bloom crossed the finish line in fifth place with a time of 24:17.96 and Julie Morris came in 15th in 30:43.46.
“Last year, the girls ran in the JV race because they were freshmen, but this year they competed in the varsity division,” Beehler began. “They ran nearly as fast as they
did last year, so that was good to see.”
“I was happy with how all our runners performed,” she continued. “I do think the boys could have dug down a little bit and got out of their comfort zone, because I think they have another gear they don’t know they have. But they are young so they will learn that.”
The squad will have another chance to learn their potential this week as they travel to Spearfish for a meet on Friday.