X country ends season on high note

The season finale for the Badger Cross Country team ended on a high note. After strong performances at districts, the Badgers carried their enthusiasm into Idaho Falls.

The picturesque 5k course featured slight hills and twists and turns ideal for the teams’ style of running.

For the Lady Badgers, Jill Alexander ended on a high note, finishing 38th in 3A Cross Country state with a time of 23:55. Amanda Bauer finished her first season with a strong performance at the state meet, finishing in 26:48. Sophomore Hannah Lysne and Junior Jordan Merz paced each other, coming in at 27:25 and 27:37 respectively.

The girls capped off an impressive season. This fall they went from barely having enough runners to field a team to competing at state.

Coaches are proud of all the girls who worked hard all season long and finished their season crossing the line in Idaho Falls.

The Badger boys came into the race with enthusiasm and after walking the course actually began to have fun.

Jacob Perkins ran the best race for the Badgers, coming in at 17:56 and an 11th place finish. Perkins was proud of several accomplishments, including defying the computer based estimates on athletic.net (athletic.net predicted he would finish 12th) and beating IML rival Sam St. Mars of Timberlake to become the best IML runner at State.

Senior Luke Reoch in his final cross country race ran a gutsy 18:19 for a 22nd place finish, just missing taking a spot on the podium by six seconds. Tucker Cavender came in at 20:09 to wrap up his best season yet.

Cavender is already looking forward to next season. First year runner Nolan Stidham crossed the finish at 20:43. Louis Balcaen ran at 21:35 and fellow sophomore Alva Swanson finished in 22:14. Freshman Eric Ellis was right on Swanson’s heels with a 22:15.

The boys also had a great season. They battled through adversity and pulled together a great team effort at Districts to send them to State. The team was fun-loving and hard-working, rallying together and challenging themselves to accomplish their goal.

Senior Luke Reoch finished his high school cross country career with a solid race in Idaho Falls and a season full of great memories. He, his teammates, and his coaches will not soon forget the year two Badger cross-country teams went to state.

—Tyler Warner is the cross country coach.