Coach Warner named Intermountain League Coach of the Year
Head Coach, BFHS Cross Country
The Badger cross country teams made the trip back to Farragut State Park on Thursday to race in the Idaho District 1 3A Championships on the same 5k course they ran back in September. Since that meet, the BFHS runners had gained a lot of experience and logged hundreds of miles, and they drew on every inch of them in order to gain a qualifying berth to state. In order to qualify, the teams needed to come either in 1st or 2nd place in the team scoring. The girls’ team had to contend with Timberlake and Kellogg while the boys had to race against Kellogg, Priest River, and Timberlake.
At 12:30 p.m. the girls started their race. Timberlake’s Taylor Hammond set a hard pace to keep up with almost from the start. A pack of four Timberlake runners had Jordan Young sitting in fifth place early in the race. After smart running Jordan came into the last 0.1 mile of the course in fourth place with Timberlake’s Jamey Weisharr within reach. “Jordan came to us from track as an 800 runner, so she’s got that power to catch almost anybody if you give her the chance,” said Coach Warner. Young dueled with Weisharr down the course and passed her in the last 20 meters. Her finishing time was 21:16 and a third place medal to go with it. Captains Hannah Lysne and Nicole Donn ran near each other for most of the race, locking up critical points. Lysne crossed at 23:02 for an eighth place medal and Donn finished in 23:22 with a ninth place medal. Just missing the top 10 was Ada Bonnell with 23:42 in eleventh place. The final scoring Badger was Lauren Stidham at 25:09.
The Timberlake Tigers scored a dominant 18 points to lock up their trip to state. The Bonners Ferry girls scored 43, good enough for second place and the team’s second trip to state in three years. Kellogg finished third with 75 points. The top six girls qualified as individuals, even though they all also qualified with teams.
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The tougher race would be in the boys division. Timberlake has had a dominant program for years, but the Badgers and Spartans of Priest River had some close duels this season. At the Priest River Invite, Bonners Ferry lost by a single point. At the Kellogg Invite the week before, the Badgers also fell officially by one point. “We knew we were capable of winning,” said Captain Alva Swanson. “We just needed the right pieces. We weren’t all very healthy at Priest River and they kind of surprised us at Kellogg. They have a good team, but we knew we should have beat them.”
The race did not start out going the Badgers way. The Spartans got out to an early lead behind a pair of front-running Timberlake Tigers. “We heard coach telling us we were already behind,” Senior Jack Wade said of the first mile. Making matters worse, Nolan Stidham, a usual front runner, had developed a deep cough over the previous days. “ By the second loop we knew we’d have to really start moving up. Every point counts,” said Wade.
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Working in the Spartan’s favor, stellar freshmen Caleb Gleason and Cameron Parkes took third and fourth place. “That’s never a good feeling seeing their front two come in ahead of your first runner,” Coach Warner said. “But then the pack saved us.” As has been their trend for most of the second half of the season, the Badger frontrunners came in all together. Jack Wade led the way with an 18:44, freshman Jamin Bontrager came in two seconds later, and Nolan Stidham two seconds after him. With sixth through eighth place firmly in the hands of the Badgers, things began to look up. The next two Badgers would be Dawson Thomas and Alva Swanson, running 19:08 and 19:10 respectively.
Eric Ellis would be the Badgers sixth runner across at 19:13. Nick Magdaleno would come in at 20:23. Sam Gorton would post a season best time on the difficult course with 20:46. Louis Balcaen had to recover from a severe fall near the finish, but managed to recover and finish just behind Gorton at 20:47. Bradley Corson ran a hard 21:01 and Sam Smith battled with teammate TJ Smith to finish 21:13 and 21:16 respectively. Ryne Rae would finish in 21:19 and finally Alex Urbaniak at 25:55.
A sprinkling of Timberlake and Priest River runners throughout made it difficult to determine exactly how the points played out early on. “We knew Timberlake would probably win. So it came down to two teams battling hard for second,” said Coach Warner. “It was going to be close.” In the end, the Badgers secured their eighth consecutive trip to state, scoring 52 points against Priest River’s 56 points.
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“Jack did a great job, stepping up when Nolan wasn’t feeling well,” assistant Catherine DelSalle commented. “But having them all stay together was critical. Without that teamwork we could have been on the outside looking in.”
“It’s a really good feeling,” Stidham would say of their accomplishment. “We had to work really hard against a good team.” The boys’ top 10 all qualified as individuals, giving Zak Bishop from Kellogg as well as Gleason and Parkes a chance to compete at the state race.
In addition to six total medalists, two second place trophies, and two berths to state, Bonners Ferry Coach Tyler Warner was awarded the Intermountain League Cross Country Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year. The award is determined by a vote of all of the Iintermountain League coaches and athletic directors.
The Badgers varsity teams will return to Farragut this Saturday, October 31 for the 3A Championship races, which start at Scott Field at 1:30 p.m. for the girls and 2:30 p.m. for the boys.
