Warriors, Scarlets ready for cross country

The Arlee High School boys and girls cross country team will boast of several upper class men as they prepare to begin their 2017 campaign.

Last season, the Arlee boys and girls qualified for state and this year they have a few of their key contributors back from that team.

Last year, the Scarlet’s top-finisher Natalie Yocum, who finished fifth in the state last season, transferred to another school.

Warriors, Scarlets coach Brett Sproull was hoping to add more new faces to his team that will consist of 15 runners (between the boys and girls) as his teams get closer to the season.

“I am in the process of basically trying to recruit and it will be easier once school starts,” Sproull said. “Once I am able to go talk to them face-to-face, we will get a few new guys and girls. That should make up for some of the runners that we lost.”

The Warriors will have two of their fastest returners including James Crazyboy and Jason Miller.

“(Miller) is our fastest guy in practice,” Sproull said. “He’s been doing really well and already looks like he is in as good of shape as last year.”

Sproull said the other runner that will have an impact is Crazyboy.

“I asked him about it and he said he went out a couple of times but once the smoke came in, he shut (his training) down,” Sproull said. “He is a wrestler and he gets well conditioned for wrestling by running. I am sure Miller is training. He attends running camps and I will be excited to see him when the new year begins.”

Scarlets get ready for season

The Arlee Scarlets may have lost their highest placer in Natalie Yocum but will still have players with a lot of potential on their squad.

Sproull said Shawntaya Nelson has looked “solid” in the early portion of practice.

“She is looking really good in practice and finished the year quite strong,” Sproull said. “She will be the undisputed team leader on the girls side.”

Arlee will also have Summer DarcAngelo, who Sproull said will be another leader on the team.

Sproull, who enters his second season coaching at the high school level, said he wants to recruit some more players he coached at the junior high level.

“Back when I was a junior high coach, I had quite a few players,” Sproull said. “I am trying to pull some of those kids from my junior high back and I’ve been having mixed luck. Some of the kids were two sport athletes in junior high and they don’t want to do that in high school.”

Last year, several of Sproull’s runners competed at state and his highest player, Yocum, captured fifth in the state.

Sproull stated that he was “really proud” of his team’s efforts and hopes to replicate or exceed last year’s accomplishments.

“I was really proud of both of my teams last year and we are trying to get back to that level,” Sproull said. “(Last year) was a dream season for us. I know we had a good cross country program and we continued to improve throughout the season. They did that well last year and I am hoping to match that.”