Girls XC perform well at state

LEWISTON — Badger girls cross country performed well and finished in ninth at the 3A IHSAA state race.

Head coach Tyler Warner said he was pleased that the Badgers finished the season at state.

“We had a discussion the night before about being appreciative of the opportunity, and out of all the teams in 3A, we got to be there and how many teams wished they could be able to run that race,” he said.

Race day was warmer than the team had become accustomed to. Earlier in the week, the Badgers had donned gloves and sweaters, but at the state race they were warming up T-shirts, Warner said.

Warner said the girls had great, positive attitudes and worked extremely hard to be prepared for the day.

He added that one of the challenges the Badgers encounter annually is the southeastern teams come from a much higher altitude and seem to have really great days at state.

“The girls from Sugar Salem and Teton pushed the pace hard early, this combined with a fast course already, led to some of the fastest times of the year,” he said. “Most of the teams from southern Idaho, especially southeastern, posted PRs for their entire team and many of those schools did not come up for the Lewiston meet on Oct. 1, so we really didn't have common meets to compare to.”

“That being said, given the challenges of having spent most of the previous week inside due to smoke, then adjusting to cold the next week, and then back to warmth, and travel, I think the girls did the best they could with what they had,” he said.

Warner added that he is proud of the girls for how they ran and how they represented the team, school and community.

“Sydney [Beckle] and Ceci's [Roemer] times were not too far off their normal race times, so I think it was just a matter of the teams from the southern and southeastern portion of the state doing just a little bit better,” he said.

Before the race Jaden Byars had knee issues, but those did not seem to impede her once the racing started, Warner said.

Braylyn Bayer arrived in time after competing in the state volleyball tournament the day before, having driven with her parents through the night and arriving in Lewiston early in the morning to go race at 1 p.m.

“Trina Johnson was our lone PR for the day, but still a great accomplishment and a cherry on top of her season. She's worked really hard and had to dig deep to get her time,” he said.

Warner said overall he’s happy with how the season went and how the state race panned out.

“I couldn't have asked for a better group of hardworking, dedicated individuals and they made Bonners Ferry proud of their effort,” he said.

To top it off, North Idaho had a great day for individual champions. McKennah Kozeluh from Coeur d’Alene Charter dominated the girls 3A race, Jacob Barnhardt from Timberlake also won the individual 3A boys title. Anastasia Peters from Post Falls won the girls 5A race and now holds the Idaho girls 5K state record.

Badger results: 33, Sydney Beckle 20:15.34; 45, Ceci Roemer 21:27.61; 62, Jaden Byars 24:25.44; 64, Braylyn Bayer 24:32.67; 68, Trina Johnson 26:51.87.