Halladay Wins Third Straight Idaho 5A Title; Boise Cruises

By Marlowe Hereford for DyeStat

Low elevation made for fast times across the board at the Idaho high school cross country state championships Saturday at Lewiston Orchards in Lewiston, Idaho.

Nine girls broke the 18-minute barrier —- six in the 5A girls race alone — with eight boys breaking 15:30 on the course, which is used by Lewis-Clark State College.

These times were attained by all four 5A and 4A individual winners. Producing the fastest girls time of the meet — and in the state of Idaho this season — was Mountain View junior Lexy Halladay, who won the 5A race in 17:08.8. She is the first girl to win three consecutive 5A individual titles since the classification was created in 1994.

Borah sophomore Nathan Green had the fastest boys time of the day, winning the 5A boys race in 15:10.1. It was his first state cross country meet, as a broken growth plate in his hip cut his freshman season short early in 2017.

Rocky Mountain edged fellow District 3 team Timberline by one point to win its third consecutive 5A boys team title with a score of 48. Boise, which entered the meet No. 6 in DyeStat national rankings, won its first 5A girls title since 2011 with a score of 39.

Both 4A individual champions and runners-up retained their spots from last season. Twin Falls junior Mattalyn Geddes bettered her personal and school record by running 17:29.5 to win the girls race over Skyline’s Sariah Harrison, while Bishop Kelly senior Nicholas Russell won the boys race in 15:11.3 over Idaho Falls’ Zach Erikson. Russell is the first Idaho boy to win three consecutive 4A individual titles since 2015 Pocatello grad and current Boise State sophomore Elijah Armstrong.

Idaho Falls repeated as 4A boys champions with the same score (72) and medalists as last year (Erikson, Mitchell Athay, Reed Eddington). Saturday was Erikson’s fourth race this season versus Russell and it was Russell’s first win. Athay, a sophomore, took third to seniors Russell and Erikson after briefly taking the lead.

“He was right behind Nick and Zach and looked very comfortable and in control,” Idaho Falls coach Alan McMurtrey said. “He actually took the lead with about 800 meters to go. It was pretty epic. It’s tough to lose (seniors) Zach and Reed, but it’s good to have young runners like Mitchell coming back.”

The 4A girls team title race came down to the wire for the second consecutive season. Bishop Kelly’s No. 5 girl Molly Fuller finished in 26th place — two spots ahead of Skyline’s No. 5 girl Megan Reed — to give the Knights the title 55-58 over Skyline. A year ago, Skyline edged Twin Falls 54-58 to win the same race.

“After watching the race, I figured we were really close,” Skyline coach Sean Schmidt said. “The girls were disappointed with a second place trophy, but they seem to be doing okay now. It was just a nailbiter.”

A year after completing a program first team title sweep in 3A, Sugar-Salem repeated that feat Saturday. The Diggers won the boys title 40-76 over fellow eastern Idaho team Snake River and the girls title 45-63 over Timberlake. The state banners and trophies bring Sugar-Salem head coach Brett Hill’s career title count to 40 combined between track and cross-country through 26 years of coaching in Idaho. While Sugar-Salem returned most of their girls from last season, its boys team is young.

"Some people may think it's easy to win these state titles," Hill said. "Every year it gets tougher because that target on your back gets bigger. The back of our shirts say, 'It doesn't get any better than this.' Cross country is a sport where effort is rewarded. You can't always say that about other sports. It's pretty cut and dry. If you put in the effort over the summer, you get rewarded in the fall. I love seeing that."

Sugar-Salem also had an individual boys champion for the second consecutive year. Senior Kooper Williams won in a new personal and school record time of 15:23.8, leading from the start and winning by 37 seconds. Hill also believes it is the fastest time by any boy he has coached.

Soda Springs extended its all-sport, all-classification, all-Idaho state title streak to 13 girls cross country team titles in Class 2A, 47-80 over conference foe Bear Lake. Elli Kelsey, a younger sister of two-time defending 2A girls individual state champion Josi Kelsey, won the individual title in 18:24.3.

Soda Springs’ five-year streak on the boys side, however, was snapped by Salmon, which won 49-79 for its first boys cross country title. A year ago, Soda Springs beat Salmon by one point.

“Our kids just ran great today,” Salmon coach Cecil Jackson said. “I can’t say enough about how good Soda’s program is. They’re the example we've been trying to follow.  Our kids really wanted it. Last year that one point, it stayed with them. They knew they had to perform today.”

Leading Salmon’s charge was junior Andy Gebhardt, who became Salmon’s first boys cross country individual state champion since 1987 by winning Saturday’s race in 15:55. Right behind him in second was teammate John Simmons in 16 minutes flat.

“It was good to know I left it all there,” Gebhardt said. “It was awesome. Everybody ran really good races.”

In 1A, Liberty Charter repeated as boys champions 41-63 over Valley and also had the individual winner in junior Caleb Hamblin (15:34.9). Oakley won its program first girls title, 70-76 over Troy. Sophomore Kaybree Christensen became Raft River’s first girls individual champion, winning the 1A girls race in 18:28.8 over teammate Karlee Christensen.

RESULTS

Team champions

5A boys—Rocky Mountain 48 points

5A girls—Boise 39 points

4A boys—Idaho Falls 72 points

4A girls—Bishop Kelly 55 points

3A boys—Sugar-Salem 40 points

3A girls—Sugar-Salem 45 points

2A boys—Salmon 49 points

2A girls—Soda Springs 47 points

1A boys—Liberty Charter 41 points

1A girls—Oakley 70 points