Four corners. Five teams.
by Julian Aguirre, Northwest Region editor
�Have you ever heard of Bear Lake ,� read an internet posting by Idahoxc.com editor Brett Hill, also Head Coach at Firth HS, a 2A classification team. �If not, you will following this weekend (at the state meet).� The posting was meant to give spectators and other teams a chance to notice a little known girls squad from Bear Lake HS in Mont Pelier, near southeastern-most tip of Idaho , a 3A classification school that earned both boys and girls state titles one week ago.
Hill's girls of Firth HS, near Pocatello ID have captured one more of several state 2A titles, repeating in dominant fashion. They are located near the northwestern-most region of Idaho , bordering central Montana .
Across the state in Boise , just an hour or so east of Oregon 's borders, a well-known Bishop Kelly HS girls team was training and preparing for a successful season all their own, at the 4A level however. Coach Tom Shanahan's girls are difficult to miss at any major cross country event, as they represent the tight knit group of athletes any coach wishes for amongst their girls varsity ranks. Bishop Kelly is the only private catholic high school in the state of Idaho .
A few hours north in Idaho's �panhandle' region, at the world famous resort town of Coeur d' Alene ID, the girls of Coeur d' Alene HS were preparing for a victory over mid-season Idaho #1 Skyline HS, also of Boise, both two of Idaho's top three teams overall.
When all is said and done
�Nothing matters,� said Irish-born Bishop Kelly Head Coach Tom Shanahan in reference to the regular season. �Nothing matters until the last two weeks of the season.�
For four years now Coach Shanahan has worked with his girls (and boys) programs nearly year-round, building their strength, their agility, and more importantly, their mentality.
�We're trying to change their attitude,� said Shanahan. �I tell the kids that if they want to be at the top at the end of the season they have to get the mileage in.�
Shanahan's girls, for example, will put in anywhere from 35 to 50 miles per week during cross country season, close to 35 for his younger girls. Shanahan wishes he could influence his girls and boys to take on a few more miles of base training, but is satisfied thus far with what his boys and girls have achieved overall.
�I actually consider all my kids' mileage to be low,� Shanahan said.
In addition to their training, Shanahan contributes the majority of their team success to exceptional team bonding events, not limited to weekend trips, family potlucks, sourdough pancake feeds (oh yes, sourdough), and summer team relays.
Every year for their first jamboree of the season, usually during the final weekend in August the BK XC crew heads to McCall for the annual Dash and Splash event, where two parents of athletes have access to cabins for the team to lodge overnight. Along with several insightful learning clinics, a post-event shakeout run and long Sunday run, and team mass, there is always the team sourdough pancake-eating contest; this August one male athlete finished 22 pancakes for the win.
And what is most trivia of all is that their true #1 runner, sophomore Elissa Flandro, who Shanahan picked as one of 4A's top-five individuals overall, was absent from their line-up with a broken fibula midway through her season. Flandro is currently completing rehabilitation and will return or spring track.
�Next year we're getting a really good freshman too,� said Shanahan on a positive note. The youngster who is fostering already into one of Idaho 's future greats, has run 5:02 as a seventh grader this spring for the 1500m and is rumored to have run in the 19:20 's for a 5k road race this summer.
�She is someone who is really going to blossom,� Shanahan said.
Bishop Kelly has won three of the past four 4A Idaho state team titles through building a successful mindset inside strong and well-trained bodies. With the inclusion of a healthy Flandro and a budding young incoming freshman, Bishop Kelly will likely represent Idaho 's best for 2005.
New every time - Bear Lake Girls
Somehow a DQ equals a repeat state title.
Over the closing 100m of the 2003 Idaho State 3A Championships, one of Coach Don Golding's Bear Lake girls was involved in the usual positioning struggle, attempted to squeeze through two other runners, was nudged uncontrollably, and was disqualified from the competition. His athlete, their #3 runner at the time, would have placed #15, giving their team an even lower score from their impressive 34 point first-place total of 2003.
�This year we scored 36,� and Coach Golding, �and I think this is a better team.�
Coach Golding confesses that his girls have very high goals for their performances, however feels their consistency has shaped their team over the past couple of seasons.
Since many of Idaho 's courses are at high altitude and are exceedingly hilly and mountainous in terrain, teams are forced to train on similar grounds.
�We have a traditional hill that we do,� said Golding of the Bear Lake State-meet preparation philosophy. �We call it the old junkyard hill.� They will complete a workout session of several hill repetitions typically once per week to test their hill technique and strength.
�We knew we were the team to beat as far as 3A goes,� said Bear Lake Head Coach Don Golding of his girls' intentions for 2004, �but we didn't know we'd be considered (by some) �the' team to beat in Idaho .�
Up until post-season, the girls of Bear Lake were nearly unknown, but will now have their jerseys remembered by all of Idaho 's competitive girls teams. Hopefully next season, Bear Lake will travel into Washington and/or Oregon to strut their stuff against the northwest region's top runners.
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