Summers Earns Goal During Career

Wolf Point High School senior Peyton Summers says at times he still can’t believe his dream of winning the state cross country championship came true.

“I still can’t believe I have the gold medal up in my room,” Summers said. “It was tears of joy. It’s all I wanted since I was a freshman.”

Summers’ journey to capture the top honors in running started when his mother and older sister started to have his compete at races with them when he was only about 9 years old.

“At first, it was hard,” Peyton remembers of those events. “I didn’t like it at first. I didn’t have my stamina at that time.”

As the years went by, he found that his sister Sierra, who is five years older than him, was a good running partner.

“I didn’t start beating her under I was in the seventh grade,” Peyton said.

After earning All-State honors in his sophomore and junior years, Peyton wanted to be on top of the podium as a senior. Inspiration included Wolf Point native Zander Ackerman, who won the state title when Peyton was a freshman.

“I knew what he did to get there,” Summers said.

Summer was delighted that Ackerman attended this year’s state cross country meet to cheer on his former teammates.

“He was the first person that I saw when I crossed the finish line,” Summers said. “It was cool to see a past state champion.”

Summers is hopeful more state titles are in his future when the track season takes place this spring.

His goals include breaking the school’s records in the 800, 1600 and 3200-meter runs.

“I’m going to go for the win too,” Summers said. “That would be a good ending to my senior year.”

Currently, he is a starter for Wolf Point’s boys’ basketball team. He hopes to achieve All-Conference honors in the sport.

“Hopefully, we can turn our season around,” Summers said. “I know we will.”

He explains that he enjoys his basketball teammates, coaches and friends. “I like the game in general,” he added.

His favorite class is cardio.

Summers says his favorite teacher is R.C. Page. “He helps us get our projects done,” Summers explained.

He will decide in March or April of which college to attend. He plans to study sports science.