Obstacles Won’t Stop Her Kootenai Athlete Should Have Big Effort At State Meet
The best Annie Goodson has highjumped in practice is 5 feet. Yet the Kootenai High junior and three-sport standout owns the State A-4 meet record at 5-3.
What gives? Certainly not the gym floor on which Goodson works on her form and steps every day.
She’ll most likely defend her state title next month in Boise. And she’ll be favored in the 100- and 200-meter sprints, events in which she placed second last year.
It won’t be because of her practice runs on O’Gara Road, a paved side road near the school. But when the muddy dirt track on a hill behind the school dries out, she’ll be able to at least practice with starting blocks.
There is a bright side here. Things could be worse. At least Kootenai offers track. Not all A-4 schools in the state field teams.
A handful of North Idaho athletes will contend for at least two and in some cases three individual state championships at state.
But just one Panhandle athlete will challenge for four gold medals - Goodson.
“I think that I can do it,” said Goodson, who has traded in a leg on the medley relay for a fourth individual event, the 400.
Goodson has two more trips to state, but the left side of her letterman’s jacket is already measurably heavier than the right.
As a freshman, she collected medals in the high jump (second), 200 (third), 100 (sixth) and medley relay (sixth).
Last year, she took home four more medals.
The first time she ran the 400, she zipped around the track in 1 minute, 1.3 seconds. That time at state last year would have taken second.
Goodson is entered in Saturday’s Super-1 Invitational, annually the top meet in North Idaho, at Lake City. Pitted against the best jumpers and runners in the area, she hopes the competition and anticipated warmer temperatures will lead to several PRs.
Track is easily her favorite sport, although she’s a starter in volleyball and basketball.
It’s the individual nature of track that endears Goodson to the sport.
“You can be as successful as you want in track. Your work really shows,” Goodson said.
For that matter, track offers challenges similar to the classroom. And Goodson, who carries a 4.0 grade-point average, gets nothing but perfect marks in her studies.
“I like to be in control, but I can adapt to a team too,” she said.
Goodson holds the school high jump record. But apparently nobody knows what the records are in the other events.
Her current personal bests are most likely close. Her goals this season for each event certainly would eclipse any records.
Goodson’s goals are:
High jump: 5-6 (5-8 by next year).
100: 12.5 or better.
200: 26.5 or better.
400: Under a minute.
Goodson is easy to pick out in the high jump. Because she’s left-handed, she approaches from the left side of the bar.
It’s her approach that stands out. Her start is abbreviated, about half the distance of other jumpers.
“It’s probably because I practice in the gym and there’s not enough room to have a long approach with everybody else in there practicing,” she said.
Being a sprinter is a big advantage, though.
“The last four or five steps is where you create the speed,” Goodson said. “So why do double the work if you can get it done in a shorter distance?”
Good logic. And the results speak for themselves.
Goodson will spend a month this summer at a medical camp co-sponsored by the University of Idaho and Washington State. She wants to become a surgeon and hopes that track will help pay for her undergraduate education.
Kootenai coach Scott Shafer believes Goodson will succeed in anything she does.
“She’s very self-motivated,” Shafer said. “She has some high goals this spring, but I think she’ll meet or exceed them. When it’s competition time, she’s focused and intense.”
With three or four other athletes capable of scoring points at state, Shafer is hopeful of a team trophy.
“I think we can score enough points to get into the top three,” he said.
And Goodson looks like a guarantee for the biggest portion of those points.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo