Final XC Countdown

We have been a XC family for many, many years. It began when Josh coached Cross Country for several years when our boys were infants and toddlers, when Uncle Malachi was on the team. Then when Ammon was in junior high, he switched from playing football to running XC in 7th grade, and since that point, we've watched all our children compete in XC for the past 10 consecutive years. We've witnessed all 4 boys run during the junior high years: Kanyon running for West Jefferson and the other 3 boys running for Salmon. We were spectators at the sport for all four of Ammon's high school years, ending with his senior year when his team got 2nd at state by just one point. We witnessed the twins run all four years of high school, winning the state championship for 3 of the years, and getting 2nd place their senior year by just a few points to another team from our district: North Fremont. Kanyon has chosen not to continue to run during his high school years, but running with his friends and teammates for the inspiring coaches he had at West J was such a positive experience for him. That's one of the big reasons we love XC: there's so much positive interactions between all the runners and teams! Since this is the twins' final year of high school, it's also the final year of our family being involved in the sport. It's been quite the journey and we've loved watching all our boys participate in XC. It's been especially rewarding and emotional this year, knowing this was our boys' final season!

It's the final countdown! Counting down the highlights of our last XC season:

10. Our fellow spectators:

From the very first meet of this year's season, we realized that the Salmon XC spectators were a group of parents primarily from our ward! 7 boys and 4 girls were all from our ward! In total, there were 11 high school boys and 9 high school girls, so that means over 50% of the high school teams came from just our ward! We had SO much fun with our fellow crowd at the meets this year; we loved hanging out with our friends at the meets! It reminded me of soccer league nights when our kids were younger, and hanging out with all the parents together!

3 of the dads from our ward--and they all looked so similar on 
this day, too, with their black shirts, sunglasses, hats, & facial hair!

These 2 girls from West J (who I knew from teaching there) sat &
played barbies with me at the Tiger Grizz meet. I loved it so much! 

Josh got to drive the pace-setting vehicle at the home meet.

Kanyon drove around new friends from
Leadore during the home meet in Salmon.

My parents drove up to watch the Pocatello meet.

9. Soda Springs 

The first meet of the year was the Cardinal Classic at Soda Springs on the first Saturday of September (which was also Labor Day weekend). Because Soda Springs is so far from Salmon, the high school team went down on Friday afternoon. Josh drove the team bus, and I was able to join him on the bus, which was nice. We previewed the course that afternoon, went out to eat dinner, and stayed overnight at a local hotel. Since it was Labor Day weekend, a lot of the parents were able to come down and support the team, and it was so fun to watch the kids do so well amongst our friendly crowd. It was a large meet, with over 30 schools attending from Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, and over 200 runners in the boys' varsity race. Micah was the 3rd runner to finish from our team (of 7), and his time was 19:13. Jonah was the 5th runner in from our team; his time was 20:46. 

Varsity team at the first race (missing Boaz who didn't have enough practices yet):
Kohlbin, Erik, Jonah, Nathan, Micah, Danny, & Tyler

 8. Tiger-Grizz 

The next meet was the Tiger-Grizz the following Friday in Idaho Falls at Freeman Park. Micah and Jonah both ran on the Varsity team again. This time, Micah was our team's 4th finisher with a time of 19:16, and Jonah was Salmon's 6th finisher with a time of 20:41. Jonah beat freshman teammate Travis Crofoot by 5 seconds at the finish. 

7. North Fremont at Harriman State Park

Josh drove the team bus to this event, but I was unable to take the day off for it, so there's no pictures of the boys at it. However, there IS a super funny story about it! Before the race started, Jonah had to use the bathroom. However, there was only one bathroom and a really long line. He was waiting in line, but then heard there was no toilet paper. He needed to go #2, and didn't want to start the race without having the option for toilet paper, so he decided to just run the race, and use the bathroom afterwards. However, he did tell Josh that there was no toilet paper, so Josh ran to the bus, which was parked over a half mile away, to get some paper towels. Unfortunately, by the time Josh made it back with the paper towels, the race had started, the toilet paper had been re-stocked, and Jonah was gone. At Harriman, the spectators only see the runners at the beginning and the end of the race; the rest of the race, they're running on paths through the trees and you can't see them. When Jonah started running, he realized he wasn't going to be able to make it to the finish without using the bathroom, so when they started into the trees, he left the path (where he was running alongside Tyler) and pooped in the bushes, then finished the race. He said it only cost him like 15 seconds, but he felt so much better afterwards! He finished the race in 21:00 flat. Micah got 15th place with a time of 18:50 in the race with 97 runners (Jonah finished 43rd). I didn't even know about Jonah's incident until a couple weeks later, when the kids who were at our house for part of their Homecoming date were talking about it. Reports of the incident turned up again at the Salmon Senior XC night in October when 4 out of the 6 seniors talked about it in their bio, which cracked me up! Apparently it was a pretty epic moment!

Tyler said his favorite XC memory was "passing 
Jonah in a race while he was visiting the 'bushes'", 
and Erik said his was "Jonah's digestive issues mid-race".

Boaz said his favorite XC memory was "Jonah's 
mid-race digestive issues at North Fremont" and 
Jonah said his was "Visiting the bushes mid-race
at Harriman". 

6. Salmon Home Meet

Salmon hosted the Salmon Savage Rumble at the Salmon Valley Golf Course at the end of September! It was a gorgeous afternoon! Micah got 10th place overall with a time of 17:42. Instead of medals, the coaches gave the winners string backpacks this year, and he received one which was awesome! Jonah placed 19th with a time of 18:42, beating freshman teammate Daniel by 2 seconds.  

Salmon H.S. Boys team altogether: Micah, Jonah, Aidan, Tyler
Nathan, Erik, Boaz, Kohlbin, Daniel, Danny, and Travis.

High School & Middle School XC teams

5. Hosting Team Breakfast

I offered to host a team breakfast after one of their Saturday morning practices. On the first Saturday in October, the team ran up Williams Lake Road for their practice, and since that's by my house, it was the perfect day to have breakfast at my house. The team showed up after 10am, which happened to be the same morning as General Conference. Josh had to work that morning, so I was on my own to make the meal. I served chocolate milk, bananas, French toast, and egg/sausage breakfast casserole. About 25 kids and Coach Nick showed up. I had set up a bunch of tables and chairs on the deck, but several of the older boys decided to eat in the dining room so they could hear General Conference playing on TV as they ate. Then, after everyone else left, the boys' team stayed for another hour to watch Conference in my living room. It was so fun to have them here, and I loved their example and willingness to do what was right! 

 

4. Bob Conley in Pocatello

The Bob Conley race at the Portneuf Wellness Complex in Pocatello has been the best location for Micah the past few years: he usually PR's there every year. Last year, he got an impressive 16:32 at the state meet at that location! Because it's the meet that's closest to my parents' home in Utah during this year's XC season, my parents came up to watch them race, along with Josh's parents and Josh's sister Tiffany. It was nice to have so many family members there to support them. The weather that day was cold and windy and rainy, and the team was hunkering down in the team tent that morning, but thankfully, right before the twins' race, the rain stopped. Unfortunately, though, neither one of them were feeling particularly good on this race day: Jonah was just ending a cold and Micah was just coming down with it, and they were both disappointed in their overall performance, but I couldn't have been more proud of them! It's difficult to compete when you're not feeling 100%, and they both definitely gave it their all that day, which made my heart swell! Micah finished with a time of 18:14, and Jonah's time was 19:53 (beating last year's time there at the same course by 20 seconds). 

3. District Meet, Harriman State Park

Our district meet was hosted by North Fremont, at Harriman--the 2nd time we'd been there this season. This time, I was able to take the afternoon off to watch them. I was SO nervous for this meet: there were 11 boys on the high school team, and only 7 would advance to state. 6 of these boys are seniors, and 3 are freshmen--who'd been decreasing their times all season and were definite contenders! There is also one sophomore (who's our #1 runner) and one junior (who's been #2 most of the season), so it was a very nerve-wracking race for me, especially considering that you only see the runners at the beginning and the end, and the rest of the time they're hidden in the trees. Micah was still feeling sick, and didn't run as fast as he wanted; but he was able to still get 19th place and was the 6th runner in for the team. His time was 19:33--43 seconds slower than his previous race there, which was evidence of his lingering sickness. Jonah got 24th place, with a time of  20:28, which was 32 seconds faster than his previous race there (the time he relieved himself in the bushes). It was great that his time improved, but sadly he was the 9th runner in for the team. He was just 9 seconds behind freshmen teammate Travis. The 8th teammate gets to go to state as the "alternate" runner, and Jonah thought that was his spot the whole race; he didn't realize he was 9th place until right after he crossed the finish line, and he was so sad about it. He was hoping this would be the year he'd get to go to state with the team. Overall, Salmon got 2nd place at Districts, just 3 points behind North Fremont. Since there are 5 teams in our district, they take the top 50% of the teams to State (and round up), which means 3 teams got to compete at State from our District. It was an emotional day: we didn't win, but we did fantastic! The boys were good sports and congratulated the North Fremont team with dignity. Jonah let the news sink in about his disappointing discovery and he spent some time alone before the awards ceremony. I was so sad for him, because I know this wasn't how he wanted the season to end. However, I knew both boys, once again, gave everything they had during the race, and I was so proud of their performance!

Beth had braided his head that morning
before the team left for the race.

2. State Meet at Eagle Island

The State XC meet was at Eagle Island on the weekend of October 29 and 30. The 2A teams competed on Saturday, so the team left on Friday to drive to Boise and preview the course. Josh drove the team bus, and I thankfully got to join them on the bus, too. The team earned the Academic State Title for the Boys 2A team, so the coach had Tyler and Jonah join the team for the weekend, as well. We were so glad! Jonah felt like a part of the team, and it wasn't awkward for him as a tag-along because Tyler was there, too, and they were able to join the team to accept the plaque after the races, as well. After we arrived in Boise on Friday, the kids previewed the course and set up the team tent, and had a team dinner of pizza and pasta catered to the hotel. Josh and I walked down the street to have a dinner date that night, just the two of us. The next day, we slept in, and stopped at a park on the way to the course for the kids to eat leftovers and get their bodies moving around while we waited for our designated arrival time (since COVID, the state athletic restrictions are different now and the race times have a lot of space in between them in order to restrict the crowd numbers). The girls race was first, and they WON! I had a good feeling about them from the very first race at Soda Springs: I told Josh from the get-go after watching them that I thought these girls could take the state title! They ran as a pack, which reminded me of the team he coached back in 2002 that also won the state title. That was the last time the Salmon Girls Team won the State Championship, and 19 years later, they did it again! The boys race was next. Micah ran a great race, thankfully he was feeling much better by then. He placed 22nd overall (sadly just 2 places out of medal contention), and had a great time of 17:40. All our boys ran well, and they got 2nd in state, just 4 points behind the North Fremont team that they'd lost to at Districts. We were all happy for North Fremont, and we were proud of our boys for running their best. It was an amazing day to be a Salmon Savage: Boys won Academic State Champions, Girls won State Champions, and Boys got 2nd place. It was a great ending to my boys' farewell season and our final season as XC parents! 

The boys played poker on the bus ride to Boise.

The boys dressed up for team dinner.

The girls at the team dinner.

The Senior Boys on the XC team. I refer to them as "The 6-pack".

Just hanging out at a park, waiting to head 
to Eagle Island for the races.

Boys Team warming up

2A Girls State Champions

2A Boys Academic Champions

2A Boys 2nd place Team

10. Celebratory Team Dinner

We were on such a natural high after the incredible events of the day. I was so proud of all the kids! As we were leaving the state meet, we decided to stop for dinner at Black Bear Diner on the way out of Boise. I offered to pay for everyone's meal to celebrate with them their achievements at the end of their successful season. The service was terrible at the restaurant: we waited for over an hour before our food arrived, but I still cherished that time, because I knew this was their season finale, and truly it was a good way to end OUR family's XC series finale, too!