Geddes Succeeds Through Hard Work, Careful Planning

By Marlowe Hereford for DyeStat

You can take the girl out of Wyoming, but you can’t take Wyoming out of the girl.

Twin Falls ID senior Mattalyn Geddes has proven this to be true as her high school cross country and track career has stretched across neighboring states.

Originally from Pinedale, Wyo. — a town with a population of 1,890 located 107 miles southeast of Jackson Hole — Geddes ran her freshman year for Wyoming 4A power Jackson before moving to Idaho 4A power Twin Falls (population 49,202) for her sophomore year.

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Geddes has been making history in the Gem State ever since, setting school records in all three distance events in track, producing Twin Falls High’s fastest time by a female on a 5-kilometer cross country course and becoming a five-time 4A state champion in track, a two-time 4A state champion in cross country, a top-10 Nike Cross Nationals finisher and Idaho’s 2018 Gatorade Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year.

While she went from 7,176 feet elevation in Pinedale to 3,729 feet in Twin Falls, her Wyoming years set the foundation for how she competes today. This was particularly evident during NXN last December, where she ran 17:28.3 for ninth place and was the top Northwest finisher.

The result was no surprise to Twin Falls coach Tonia Burk, who traveled to Oregon for the meet and had a conversation with another coach about Geddes before the race.

“I told him, ‘Don’t count her out. She could be (the Northwest's) top runner,’” Burk said. “She mountain bikes a lot. That’s her cross training. If you watch the (NXN webcast) again, you’ll see she attacks the hills. She’s very strong, very smart. It’s amazing.”

Geddes’ running career began in middle school when her mother, who ran at Weber State, encouraged her to choose a sport. Geddes chose track, competing in sixth and seventh grade for Pinedale Middle School. In eighth grade, a Jackson coach asked her if she wanted to run for his program and she agreed. She made her high school cross country debut for the Broncs, placing fourth at Wyoming’s 4A state meet.

Moving from Wyoming to Twin Falls required several adjustments, among them the change in terrain and getting to attend the same school as her teammates. Every meet she has competed in since moving to Idaho, however, she has applied what she learned in Wyoming.

“My Jackson coach was always really good at helping us strategize the race,” Geddes said. “We’d walk through the course and he’d be like, ‘This is what you need to work on here.’ I feel like that’s helped and I’ve been able to carry that over (to Idaho). Visualizing the course before the race helps me plan for the race.”

Burk described Geddes as an athlete who is ‘head and shoulders more advanced’ than anyone she has worked with before. Twin Falls runners train in a variety of locations within and surrounding Idaho’s Magic Valley — the desert, Shoshone Falls, the Snake River canyon — and Geddes brings the same approach to practice whether it consists of intervals, time trials or a long run. Geddes also asks Burk what the course records are for every course on Twin Falls’ schedule.

“That just exemplifies the kind of kid she is,” Burk said. “A lot of kids say they want to do something. She sets a time and she achieves it. She does not overtrain. That’s something that separates her from other runners. She’s very driven in everything does. She’s never had a bad day in the three years I’ve seen her.”

Geddes’ strengths are also evident outside of Twin Falls.

Sariah Harrison, a junior at Skyline High in Idaho Falls, spoke highly of Geddes’ racing preparation and execution. Harrison, who placed second to Geddes in the last two 4A state cross country meets, the 3,200-meter final at the last two 4A state track meets and the 1,600 meters in last season’s state meet, has formed a close friendship with Geddes.

After last year’s NXR Northwest championship girls race at Eagle Island State Park, Harrison sought out Geddes in the finish area to ask if she qualified for NXN.

“I just love her,” Harrison said. “She’s an incredible athlete because she just comes in and plans. She plans well, she prepares well and she competes well. I never look at my watch during a race but she does and if she’s off pace, she picks it up. She’s crazy determined. She does really well at deciding what she wants and she works and gets after it.”

Geddes has also formed friendships with teammates Brinlee Garling and Lara Maccabee and brought her own dynamic to the team as a quiet leader. Burk said that Geddes is family oriented, which fits in well with the Bruins and has allowed her personality to shine through.

“Mattie is kind of the ‘let’s get to work’ person, Brinlee is the goof and Lara is kind of the mom,” Burk said. “The last three years she’s definitely come out of her shell. She’s actually very funny once you get past that outer shell.”

It is perhaps fitting that Burk described Twin Falls as a family-oriented program considering that four sets of sisters will represent the Bruins at Idaho’s state meet Saturday at Portneuf Wellness Complex in Pocatello. Among them is Geddes’ younger sister, Alayna, a sophomore who is a first-time state qualifier. Burk said the fact Geddes’ sister will be joining her at state likely means more to her than any history she might make this weekend.

Emily Nist, a 2012 Bishop Kelly graduate who competed at Nike Cross Nationals in 2010 and Foot Locker Nationals in 2011, is Idaho’s only three-time 4A girls individual cross country state champion. Nist did not win those titles consecutively, however, as she placed second as a junior. Geddes could make two-fold history on Saturday if she were to win her third 4A individual title in a row.

“My goal this weekend is to do my best,” Geddes said. “I’m not too concerned with anything else. Whatever happens is cool.”

In addition to visualizing every course before a meet, Geddes said she developed her ability to run in cold weather from Wyoming. That may prove helpful Saturday. After low temperatures reached single digits early in the week in eastern Idaho, Saturday’s forecasted high temperature for Pocatello is 48 degrees.

Geddes has had success at Portneuf Wellness Complex, which last hosted the state meet in 2016 a few months after the venue was completed. She won the varsity ‘A’ girls race three times at the Bob Conley Invitational, which takes place in early October every year, and she ran a personal-best 17:27.6 to extend her individual district title streak to three at last week’s 4A District 4-5 championships.

“I like that there’s a little bit of everything...some hills, the sand, a lot of flat stuff and some downhill,” Geddes said. “There’s a good variety but it just feels like a fast course.”

Burk anticipates another tight battle this weekend for 4A girls team trophies — four points or fewer separated first and second place at the previous two state meets — and is hopeful that Twin Falls can claim hardware for the fourth consecutive year. Burk said Geddes, whose goal time for Saturday is 17:20, ‘didn’t bat an eye’ last year when asked to pull Garling along early in last year’s state meet, where the two of them medaled to help Twin Falls place third.

Geddes, who made her final official college visit last weekend, ultimately wants to finish her senior season with three good races: state, NXR Northwest and NXN.

Geddes said last year's NXN performance was her career highlight so far, adding that she likes big meets because they give her someone to chase.

She has also enjoyed witnessing Idaho’s rise to the national scene. One week after she and Borah’s Nathan Green, Thunder Ridge’s Stetson Moss, Eagle’s Ashley LaJocies and the Boise girls competed at NXN, Mountain View’s Lexy Halladay, Bishop Kelly’s Nicholas Russell and Idaho Falls’ Zach Erikson competed at Foot Locker.

“It’s super cool and it’s so fun to see other amazing runners from across the state gather together and be supportive of each other and have a common goal in mind,” Geddes said.

Burk said she would not be surprised at all if Geddes not only returns to NXN this year, but improves on last year’s finish.

“The thing with Mattie is she gets better with competition,” Burk said. “Her talent has not really been tapped into. It’s really exciting to watch. She’s a kid that you point to and say, ‘This is what you get when you work hard.’”