Lady Vikings, Vikings cross country looks to build on last year's success

The Charlo girls cross country team will have every single returner back from a team that finished second in Montana Class C last season.

The Lady Vikings, like their football counterparts, are hoping to best that mark to capture a Class C state title this season.

The girls will return three state placers including Brooklyn Foust, Jaden Coston, and Adriana Johnson, who was the Lady Vikings’ No. 3 runner from last year, and Aryal Love.

Lady Vikings coach Bret Thompson can’t help but be optimistic as his team prepares to head into the season-opener.

“(This year) we had several knee injuries and we will see how that effects us at the end of the year,” Thompson said.

The Lady Vikings team is small but they will have four runners that will begin their season.

“It should be a good year, if we can stay healthy,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he felt the Charlo boys team will be stronger this season than they were last year.

The boys team includes returners Devon Siech, Wills DeGrandpre, Connor Koneig and Nate Delaney.

“Our boys are physically stronger and the girls are very competitive,” Thompson said. “I’m excited to have these runners back, they have worked very hard and want to get better everyday.”

Thompson said he felt the improvements some of his runners are making are deceiving because of the multitude of courses and terrains his team ran on.

“Every race is done on a different course so looking at week to week the times don’t always show the improvements that they are making,” Thompson said. “We try to learn from each race so that we are running our best at the end of the year. With the injuries, we will try to strengthen our athletes with running and weight lifting.”