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| Photo by Tyler Warner |
| The Badger girls, (back row, l-r) Lauren Stidham, Mia Hosterman, Serenity Fahey, Elisabeth Cowley, Rayan Naylor and Abigail Gorton and (front row) Ada Bonnell and Jordan Young, show off the trophy they brought home from Priest River Saturday. |
“We really enjoy going to Priest River,” said head coach Tyler Warner. “It attracts schools that we can be competitive with and gives us an opportunity to check where we stand in the district. We usually have a good day there.”
The race chose to run girls’ races and boys' races rather than the usual JV and varsity designation. Races began at about 5 p.m. following the conclusion of the middle school races. Bonners Ferry started quick out of the gate in the girls’ race, with Jordan Young starting to regain her old form after returning last week from injury.
“Jordan has been patient,” said assistant coach Catherine Delsalle. “She still has to trust the recovery process, but she is looking strong already.”
Young finished the course in second place with a time of 21:16, an improvement over her season debut last week at Moscow. Freshman Abby Gorton was third in the race at 22:03. In eighth place from Bonners Ferry was junior Ada Bonnell with a season best 23:56.
“Ada is gaining confidence as the season goes on,” Warner said. “Mentally she has started to put pieces together and has hit season best times the last couple of weeks.”
Lauren Stidham was next for Bonners Ferry, coming in at 25:44, also a season record. Elisabeth Cowley finished in 27:51 and freshman Serenity Fahey made her season debut at 28:06 with a powerful finish in the last 100 meters. Finally for Bonners Ferry, Rayan Naylor finished in 29:56.
Lakeland would finish first in team scoring with a score of 28. Bonners Ferry took home a second place trophy with a score of 40. Priest River girls finished third with 70 points.
In the boys’ race, Cooper Haney of Lakeland set a blistering pace and a near course record with a time of 17:24. The pace would prove hard to keep for the rest of the competition. Senior Eric Ellis was the first Badger across in ninth place with a finish of 18:55. Dawson Thomas finished not far behind in tenth with a time of 19:24. Austin Donn posted a personal best 19:27 for eleventh place behind Thomas. Sam Gorton battled through for a 19:52 finish while Nick Magdaleno posted Bonners Ferry’s final points at 21:04. Alex Urbaniak would cross the line at 23:23, a season best, and Will Colson finished in 25:22. Nathan Olsen would put in a powerful finish with a time of 25:43.
In team scoring, Priest River took advantage of breakout performances to take first place with a score of 38. Lakeland was second with 50 points. IC Academy placed third with 74 points, edging Bonners Ferry in fourth with 77 points. Kellogg was fifth with 109 and Classical Christian Academy scored 169 points.
Cross country season will run its penultimate race in Sandpoint at Travers Park on Saturday, October 8, with races starting at 9:45 a.m.