Runners take on regionals

On Saturday, Oct. 21, the New Rockford-Sheyenne Cross Country team took part in the Class B East Region meet in Cooperstown.

Neecie Swart, Gabe Smith and Seth Greiner represented the Rockets at the event, and all were willing to take on the varsity 5K (five kilometers).

With all three being seventh graders, they were signing up to go against much older and much more experienced competition. But in doing so they've gained valuable experience of their own.

In addition to stiffer competition, the varsity event is also longer than the race distance of a junior high/junior varsity race, which is only a 3K. The varsity race is five kilometers long, or 3.1 miles.

For Swart and Greiner this would be their first ever 5K race. Smith, however, competed in his first 5K at their last regular season meet on Oct. 13, and he's already shown improvement.

In his first varsity race, Smith – who's emerged as one of the Rockets' strongest runners this season – came in 95th place with a time of 21:56 (21 minutes, 56 seconds).

At the region meet in Cooperstown on Oct. 21, Smith was over a full minute faster, crossing the finish line in 90th place with a time of 20:51.

A few minutes further back was Greiner, who crossed the line to complete his first varsity race in 192nd place with a time of 24:43.

In the girls' varsity race, Neecie Swart crossed the line in 154th place with a time of 27:22.

It's still very early for these young Rockets as they begin their respective cross country journeys, but they're already racking up valuable varsity experience.

That experience is sure to benefit the NR-S Cross Country program in the years to come, but also as soon as this season's state cross country meet.

On Saturday, Oct. 28, Smith, Greiner and Swart are scheduled to be back in varsity action at the state cross country meet at the Parkhurst Campground in Jamestown.

Results from that event will be covered in next weeks' edition of the Transcript.