Runners show well at preview meet

One MHCC cross country runner placed into the top 10 at the NWAACC preview meet held at Everett Community College on Oct. 7, with two others placing in the top 25.

Sophomore Gabriela Diaz placed 8th out of 62 participants with a time of 19:29 on the women’s side. Diaz was followed by Christa Collmer, who placed 13th with a time of 20:20.

Chris Newell stood out on the men’s side, finishing 20th among 89 runners.
“As an individual I did well and got a new season PR,” Collmer said. “As for the team, we all enjoyed the meet and are excited to go back and get a few girls in the top ten at the NWACC championship meet.”

Head coach Matt Hart said he was not surprised with the performances.
“I always expect them to keep improving,” he said. “For the most part we did really well. I was really proud.”

Newell was followed by sophomore Donnie Coulson (28:13), freshman Kyle Williams (28:16), sophomores Wes Hughes (28:41) and Jonathon Butcher (29:26), and freshmen Robert Hanke (31:30) and Brian Hoglund (32:40).

On the women’s side, coming in after Diaz and Collmer, were sophomores Jennifer Tina (20:54) and Andrea Beseda (21:57) and freshmen Molly Scoles (23:50), Mariah Crumpler (23:57), Katie Brokaw (25:09), Bianca Jimenez (25:09) and Laura Knudson (25:17).

Although overall some on the team placed high in regard to times, most were a bit off, which could be due to meet conditions which were not ideal.

“The course is really slow. It was soggy but it’s not a bad course,” said Hart. “We don’t worry about time.”

Hart was also not surprised to find Collmer among the top of NWAACC, even though this is her first cross country season.

“We recruited her,” said Hart, adding he was aware what she was capable of. “She’s still raw and untapped and has a lot of potential.”

After several meets, Hart said the team’s strengths and weaknesses have become more clear and said that although there are some things the team does well, they still have some wrinkles to straighten out.

“They’re training hard and I think they’ve really started to compete,” said Hart. But, he said, “I think we need to stop thinking so much in races. They need to express themselves a bit more. In distance races, you have a lot of time to think and sometimes the thinking is counterproductive.”

Hart also highlighted overall physical strength as another one of their stronger points. “At this point their fitness is pretty good. Now we’re working more on speed.

We have been putting in some extensive miles during practice which will benefit us as the season comes to an end. We have also bonded well as a team and push each other to perform at our highest potential.”

Collmer said, “Both Hart and (Keith) Maneval, our great coaches, continually tell us to perform with an attitude of excellence and go into each race looking to have fun and leave with no regrets.”

The cross country team will stay within Oregon borders this week, visiting Clackamas Community College today for the annual Mike Hodges Invitational. The meet will feature one of the faster courses the cross country team has competed on and Hart expects that to show in the results.

“Cross country is two sports,” he said. “You’re racing against the clock and you’re racing against other people. This next meet is a clock meet. We’re racing against the time.

“It’s great opportunity to make some improvement.”
Collmer summed up her goals into three simple objectives: “One, have fun, two, run fast and three, kick butt.”