Headed to State

The Sundance High School Cross Country team celebrated a successful conference meet in Hulett on Friday, Oct. 16. Senior Bulldog runner Hunter Skeens claimed the first-place title in a time of 17:29.

“It was a great race and it was a good course to help prepare for state. There was good competition and large hills that helped me push myself to achieve better times,” said Skeens.

Freshman Deklan Gill placed 12th in the boys’ varsity race in a time of 20:31. Sophomore Kort McLaughlin placed 14th in a time of 22:00 and senior Josh Pridgeon rounded out the Bulldog team, finishing in 22:41.

“The weather wasn’t the best, but we showed up and ran hard,” Pridgeon said. “It was a good way to end the season for the junior high runners.”

Freshman Rylie Marchant ran for the Bulldog girls varsity and placed fifth in a time of 22:53.

The weather was cooler for the Bulldog runners and the course challenged them with more hills, which the cross country team has been training for.

“The hill training is paying off for our Bulldog athletes. They all did quite well on some tricky hills on this course,” coach Ann Marie Mickle said. Mickle added that the hard work and dedication showed with several faster times at the conference meet.

Eighth-grader Angel Villegas placed first in the junior high race in a time of 10:53, and fellow teammate and eighth-grader Jager McLaughlin finished in 13:52.

Sixth-grader Maria Villegas placed 10th for the Bulldog junior high girls’ race in a time of 13:47. “Maria has a positive attitude and works hard. Her dedication showed by earning a medal at the conference meet,” Mickle said. The Bulldogs will focus their final week of practice on not only intensity and endurance, but mental toughness as they work toward competing in the 2A state cross country meet Saturday, Oct. 24 in Douglas. Skeens, Pridgeon, Kort McLaughlin, Gill, Marchant and Jordan Mouat will compete at the state event.

“We tell the runners to stay strong mentally, and we focus on that each week as they set personal goals,” Mickle said. “Now, it is time to put that mental toughness into practice and achieve state goals as individual runners and a team.”