Badgers second at Farragut
Alec Perkins in front with Nathan Grow following closely behind run at the Farragut Cross Country meet Saturday.
The Bonners Ferry High Sschool Badger Cross-Country teams raced on the infamous Goat Hill course at the Farragut/Super 1 Cross Country Invite on Saturday.
Cool temps made for a good day of racing on the challenging terrain: a fast, uphill start, narrow first mile, grueling uphill just after the two-mile mark, and 1,000+ meters of downhill to the finish.
The small and large schools raced together, but scores were separated for team placement. Overall, there were runners from at 15 schools present.
In varsity, the Badger boys placed second out of eight in the small schools division, this without Micah Krmpotich and Benny Watt, who were both out for health reasons.
“The Badgers' performance illustrated the depth of the team,” said Coach Paul Bonnell.
It also gave them the chance for some "standout, step-up" races: Jacob Callister, 18th place in all classifications; Reid Boorman, 19:46 compared to his 21:07 last year; and Tyson Boorman, 20:29 compared to his 22:17 last year; Bradley Thompson, who ran 20:05 in his Farragut debut. Nick Ege, Jared Lysne, and Matt Shryock bested their times from last season by several minutes.
Varsity girls placed fourth, with the solid pack races of Lorena LaBarbera, Aimee Sayers, Sara Owinyo, and Katy Hiatt. Brook Wilson, Sally Balcaen.
McKenzie Moore found the Goat Hill challenging, but they made use of the downhill to regain spots, helping secure their team's finish.
“Brook's stride helped her pass at least three competitors in the last 400M,” said Bonnell. Aimee ran a 24:40 compared to last year's 27-plus time.”
In the JV girls division, Katrina Svec and Jessica Merz effectively used features, a strategy that will have increased importance as the season progresses.
In the JV boys, while freshmen Dominic Brasher and Jake Perez utilized race tactics, sophomores Alec Perkins and Adam Alverez drove furiously on the uphill, and juniors Jacob Merz and Josh Osborne passed opportunistically, and senior Coe Watts.
It was senior Nathan Grow who had the stand-out race, besting his time from last year by over two-and-a-half minutes to run 21:25.
Volunteer assistant coach Jennifer Borg said of Saturday's Farragut race and the Sandpoint Half-Marathon that she raced on Sunday, “I dedicated my run this morning (Sandpoint 1/2) to the BFHS x-country team, thanks guys, you pulled me through the downpour to a PR of 1:50:30 :).”