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Photo Credits: Michael Najera

 

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WEEK ONE

WEEK TWO

 

Three meets, three sets of victories for the Boise High varsity cross country teams.

The Brave have won varsity boys and girls titles at the Centennial Course XC Invite on Aug. 28 in Pocatello, the Caldwell Twilight on Sept. 3 and, on Saturday, the Eagle Island XC Invitational at Eagle Island State Park.

Boise claimed the Eagle Island varsity girls title with a score of 90 points, an 11-point margin over Centennial. Sophomore Isla Remington (fourth place, 18:30.52), freshman Mary Meyer (12th place, personal best 19:09.22), senior Rosa Wilper (24th place, 19:32.56) and junior Maddi Tookey (25th place, 19:40.10) placed in the top 25 for the Brave.

There were two varsity boys races, with one featuring 6A and 5A teams (with the exception of Idaho 2A Victory Charter and Utah 4A Bear River) and the other race featuring 2A to 4A teams (except for Idaho 5A Wood River). Boise won the 6A/5A race with a score of 77 points, a 28-point margin over Skyline. Senior Luke Bruce won the individual title in 15:19.38 while junior Austin Johnston (fourth place, personal best 15:43.66), junior Gabe Linderman (17th place, 16:29.03) and sophomore Crosby Myers (25th place, personal best 16:38.17) also claimed top-25 finishes for the Brave.

"I think we just stuck to kinda what we've been doing all year, trying to find our teammates and be as close to each other as we can," Boise head coach Aaron Olswanger said by phone. "We did enough to win. Finding the red jerseys out there and making sure our gaps were close helped us out. I think we left a lot out there. There's a lot more to prove."

Olswanger said the victory margin was smaller on the girls side due to illness. It was also homecoming weekend for Boise, and Bruce, Boise High's student body president, had many responsibilities in addition to cross country leading up to race day.

Bruce claimed Saturday's individual title in the final stretch. Olswanger said Bruce was trailing the leader, Century senior Ammon Bitton, by a second with 650 meters to go.

"His duties at school during homecoming week were insane," Olswanger said. "He really set up his race plan to stick with the Century kid and go by him when it counted. He had a good kick. He's a really good 800 runner on the track. He just kinda gritted it out."

Bruce, Bitton and third-place finisher, Skyline senior Davis Roberts, all broke the meet record of 15:42.90 set last year by Rocky Mountain's Hyrum Tuft. Bitton finished second in 15:21.59 and Roberts was third in 15:39.71.

Olswanger said Bruce has learned from each race he has competed in this season. Bruce placed second on Aug. 28 to Rigby senior Jonas Porter, who Olswanger described as 'an awesome kid,' and placed second on Sept. 3 to defending Idaho 4A individual state champion, McCall-Donnelly senior Charlie Speirs.

"Luke has really improved because he spends time at home working on weaknesses and recovery," Olswanger said. "He's diligent about everything."

Olswanger described the Brave boys as a team with solid senior leadership while the girls are a young, but deep team this season.

"Our strength is one through seven," Olswanger said of the Brave girls. "No one is as deep as we are one through seven. We need to get better at breaking up teams' one through four."

Up next for the Brave is the Desert Twilight XC Festival on Friday in Arizona. This is Boise's first appearance at the meet since 2018, when Boise's girls upset Niwot (Colo.) to win the varsity girls sweepstakes title. That 2018 Boise girls team went on to compete at Nike Cross Nationals less than three months later.

In the eight years since then, Desert Twilight relocated from Casa Grande to Mesa.

As of Monday, 254 high school teams are registered for the meet. Boise, Capital and Skyline are the Idaho teams registered.

Olswanger said the Brave look forward to racing at Toka Sticks Golf Course, the Nike Cross Southwest Regionals course that is known for fast times.

"When we travel, we treat it as a business trip while also having fun," Olswanger said. "Keeping everybody focused this week on the task, as a coach, that's my focus. We know we will have to get out a little harder if you want to be in the mix."


New Statewide And National Rankings

Three Idaho teams are among DyeStat's Early Season Top 40 U.S. team rankings released Sept. 17. Rocky Mountain is No. 24 and Boise is No. 36 in the girls team rankings while Coeur d'Alene is No. 9 in the boys team rankings.

Coeur d'Alene placed 18th out of 37 teams in the Doug Speck Sweepstakes varsity boys race of the 45th annual Woodbridge Classic on Sept. 19 in Irvine, Calif. Senior Wyatt Carr led the Vikings in the 3-mile race with a 40th place finish in 14:20.6.

Eagle freshman Adalyn Bello and Timberlake senior Lola Eggleston are the first two Idaho girls thus far this season to break 18 minutes. Bello ran a personal best 17:43.5 and Eggleston ran a personal best 17:51.5 to finish fourth and fifth, respectively, on Sept. 19 in the elite varsity girls race at The Mook XC Invitational in Tillamook, Ore. Eagle placed third in the girls team standings and fourth in the boys team standings.


On The Horizon

The Vallivue Scramble takes place Saturday in Caldwell. As of Monday, 26 high school teams are registered.

Bonners Ferry, Coeur d'Alene, Coeur d'Alene Charter, Firth, Fruitland, Genesee, Kuna, Lake City, Lakeland, Lewiston, Logos, Moscow, Nampa, North Fremont, Post Falls, Rocky Mountain, Sandpoint, Sugar-Salem, Timberlake, Troy and Twin Falls will compete Saturday at the Bob Firman Invitational, relocated to Spokane, Wash., this season after decades of taking place at Eagle Island. The meet took a hiatus last year as the change in venue was announced. As of Monday, 115 high school teams are registered.

The annual Bob Conley Invitational takes place Oct. 1 at Portneuf Wellness Complex in Pocatello, the site of this year's state meet. As of Monday, 76 high school teams are registered.