Mustang's night race could run in future
MUSTANG—Ga be Simonsen had never competed in any race like this before.
The senior stand out on Mustang' s cross country team is accustomed to winning races and dominating the competition, but he has never done so at night.
That changed Saturday. Mustang High School hosted its annual Harrier Invitational cross country meet at Wild Horse Park, which is one Simons en of the big
ge st events of the year. Except this year, runners weren't taking off at dawn, they were racing under the lights.
“It was a lot different running at night,” Simonsen said. “Racing with lights out and a ton of people there, it was a really cool event.”
The event is believed to be the first night high school cross country race in state history, Mustang coach Mike McGarry said.
About a year ago, McGarry and t he event's organizers wanted to do something different for the annual race on its 30 th running. The idea of a night race came up, and with the help of an assistant
coach, the idea didn't seem far fetched.
One of McGarry's assistant's husbands worked for a company that donated industrial spotlights for different events every year. Mustang reached out about using lights for the race and was able to get five of them to help illuminate the course.
Then McGarry reached out to Wild Horse Park to find a date when the park would be available to use. After finding one, everything fell into place for a race under the lights.
The course was a 5K setup and made a couple of winding loops through the park. McGarry said the park turned on the soccer, baseball and softball field lights to help illuminate the path in addition to the standalone lights.
“It was a little dark in some spots,” McGarry said. “There was one place a couple hundred yards long where we put those solar lights you use in a garden to show where the course went.”
The girls 5K started at 8:45 while the boys race began at 9:15. McGarry said they wanted the atmosphere to be like a football game.
He estimates about 1,5002,000 people came out to watch, something Simonsen said was really neat to see the park packed under the lights.
Simonsen won the boys race in 15:48.74. Deer Creek sophomore Tabitha Fox won the girls race in 19:39.64.
After a successful first night race, McGarry thinks it could become an annual event.
“After the race was over, I had four or five coaches come up and say, `That was really great,'” McGarry said. “The kids loved it. I didn't hear anybody say that it wasn't fun. It turned out well.”