Until you attend a major cross country event like the 1A Trico League championships, you can’t fully appreciate and understand the passion long-distance runners have for their sport. That passion also flows from their coaches and parents in the form of encouragement as the runner make their way around a 5-kilometer course that may be flat and fast on a perfect day for running, or hilly and grueling on a day the rain is as relentless as each runner’s commitment to finish.
Fall 2014 was a banner season for White Salmon cross country as both Columbia High’s boys team and Henkle Middle School’s boys and girls teams captured league championships in October at Husum Hills Golf Course, one of the most difficult courses Trico League and Lower Columbia Middle School Activities Association teams run during the high school and middle school cross country seasons.
The current Columbia High cross country program has been competing at a high level since its reinstatement in 2010. Jill Cole, who’s been Columbia XC’s coach from the outset, deservedly earned Trico Coach of the Year honors based on her teams’ outstanding performances: the boys team won its first league and district titles in 18 years, and qualified for state for the fourth year running, while the girls team placed second in league and sent runners to state for the fifth year in a row.
The Henkle Middle School came along two years later and helped launch the high school running careers of many of the CHS teams’ current group of varsity runners.
High school and middle school athletes here train together and, often, compete on the same day at the same venues. The support runners provide one another during practice runs to get better and on race day to be the best they can be is palpable. Steady improvement, personal-record times, and strong team performances are celebrated achievements.
“Cross country is an amazing sport,” said Cole. “It provides student-athletes with an opportunity to compete as a team as well as an individual, and a varsity sport in which all can participate and which will build strength, confidence, and teamwork in our student-athletes. All students are welcome to run cross country; we do not have try-outs or cuts due to ability.”
Columbia XC just completed its fifth season and its turnout numbers and interest in the sport have grown through the years since its rebirth. The same holds true for Henkle Middle School’s three-year-old program, which had 11 runners in its first season and 24 in the fall of 2014.
“As our program progresses, we are starting to see the momentum build,” said Henkle coach Michael Hannigan. “For example, this year our middle school runners broke every course record set by earlier runners. We have the biggest team in the league and have won the girls championship two years in a row, and the boys were champions this year.”
Cross country, like other high school sports, builds character, mental toughness, and athleticism, instills in runners a positive attitude and work ethic, and gives them a high level of physical conditioning that can carry over into other endeavors, such as winter sports, school work, and community service.
“Kids who join cross country want to be challenged, they want to be better, and everyone has the opportunity to get better, regardless of their ability,” Cole said. “Our kids work hard and want to become better athletes.”
CHS junior Isaac Black, who will captain the boys team in 2015, said cross country has taught him many life skills. “It has been a good team-building experience and has helped me create many new friendships,” he said. “Cross country has also taught me the benefits of hard work. The more effort I put in during practice, the better I run at the meets.”
Cole and Hannigan set the tone for their athletes by working to create a positive and competitive environment at practices that strengthens the bonds between coaches and athletes, and older athletes and younger athletes.
“Our cross country teams have a family feel to them,” Cole noted. “We support each other, encourage each other, and have fun along the way.”
Hannigan echoed Cole’s sentiment. “A reason I love coaching cross country is how we have fun, then go run hard during workouts and in races, and we all feel miserable. But the shared suffering that we all experience irregardless of ability makes us feel strong and united as a team.”
Parents have been quick to notice the effect the program has had on their children. Take the parents of Isaac Black, Justin and Kate.
“Jill and Michael have made this White Salmon cross country team so amazing that our 16-year-old son – who doesn’t even like to run – goes out every day and practices, even when it isn’t required,” said Justin Black. “In cross country, no matter what kind of shape you are in, you still suffer during the races and these kids keep coming back and racing year after year. That says a lot about the loyalty these young runner have to their team and their coaches.”
Sue and Larry Luther also have been impressed with the White Salmon cross country program, from the caliber and dedication of its coaches to the outcomes the runners experience during their time in the program.
Cross country, said Sue Luther, “has given our daughter Rachel something to strive for, and strive she has! Rachel ran proudly on varsity as a freshman in high school and qualified for state.”
Luther said the best part about the program, though, is the camaraderie between boys and girls, middle school runners and high school athletes, since they share the same buses to travel to meets. “They encourage and look out for one another, and take the idea of team to the next level,” she noted.
For Rachel Luther, the running bug bit her in middle school in a round-about way when, in Sue Luther’s words, Hannigan “grabbed Rachel on the first day of middle school and got her to sign up.” There have been no complaints from runner or parents.
“It makes us, as parents of these kids, so proud to see what their dedication can accomplish, and see such improvement in even individuals that may not have thought they had it in them,” Luther said.
Johanna Roe, whose son Cabot, a senior, recently finished his third season of cross country, said the CHS cross country program “is terrific” and Cole “is a superb coach” who supports every runner on the team, no matter if they are first or last on the course. The benefits he gained from running cross country under Cole are manifest, Roe said.
”My son has matured with the program, having started as a sophomore,” she remarked. “This year, as a senior, he was captain, and it was very interesting to watch the mental shift he made, in that it was no longer how he did, but how the team did. He really responded to the trust and responsibility” and grew both mentally and physically as a person.
It has been such a good experience, she added, that Cabot is planning on going to Western Washington University to study kinesiology and become a health and fitness specialist.
“Jill and Mike are by far the best coaches we could ask for; they bring contagious enthusiasm to the sport,” said Jim Matthias, whose daughter Sidra and son Jed both run cross country. “To see the programs in the middle and high schools begin to swell with not only more, but better talented kids is going to make the upcoming years even more exciting to witness.”
Steve Gibson no longer has children enrolled in the White Salmon cross country program, but he remains one of its biggest admirers because of the positive effect it had on his daughter Sarah and son Hayden. He has nothing but praise for Cole and the CHS program, and for Hannigan, who is helping local middle school runners learn what it takes to compete the same way high school runners do.
“As a parent I am very thankful that CHS cross country and Coach Cole helped to set a course of direction for both Sarah and Hayden to run collegiate cross country and track at Lacrosse-Wisconsin at Viterbo,” Gibson said.
Cole applauds CHS graduates who continue to run competitively at the collegiate level or for fitness, because they enjoy the very essence of running. “We have challenged these young athletes and they have enjoyed the ride and are succeeding in what they love to do,” she said.
Roe, though, perhaps put it best when summarizing her feelings about the impact running is having in local schools and could have for kids who need to understand there are no do-overs in middle or high school.
“Watching the membership of the [CHS] team grow and grow has been a joy, since too many kids trap themselves with electronics, and forever lose those opportunities to find out what they are physically and mentally capable of. There is some magic happening, as Coach Hannigan at the middle school is bringing the younger runners out in droves!”
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