CdA’s Gomez, Timberlake girls win in cross country

SODA SPRINGS – Halloween is today, but a couple of North Idaho schools got their treats early at the state cross country championships.

Coeur d’Alene sensation Kinsey Gomez defended her individual title in winning an unprecedented third 5A title to go with a runner-up finish as a sophomore.

In 3A, Timberline girls also defended their team title.

“It’s a pretty sweet experience,” Gomez said of winning. “I like it.”

Gomez toured the flat 3-mile course at Kelly Park in a pedestrian time – for her – of 19 minutes, 1 second.

“It looked like it was going to be easy, but it was pretty hard,” she said. “Running at altitude was harder than I thought it would be. It was kind of cold and windy. It’s a slow time for me, but I heard it was the course record.”

Gomez ran a strategy similar to the Timberlake girls, according to CdA coach Cathy Compton. She went out conservatively for the first mile and then built on that, running away to win by 32 seconds and reportedly 20 seconds less than the previous best.

“She just ran beautiful,” Compton said. “She ran exactly as planned. She didn’t go out like a racehorse. She stayed with the pack for a mile. It was exciting.”

Timberlake coach Shawn Lawler was just as pleased.

“Our girls raced so smart,” he said. “The course was at 6,000 feet. We never talked elevation at all, because there was nothing we could do about it. They went out conservative and then started passing. There is a 300-meter hill at a mile. It worked beautiful.”

A key factor was Rachel Ward, Timberlake’s No. 5 runner. She was 50th at a mile and finished 23rd. Leading runner Ashley George was fourth at a mile and finished second, well behind Alice Keller of Salmon.

“We thought that was the best she could do and she did it,” Lawler said.

The other scorers were Brooke Nowlan, ninth; Dominique Vanderwilt, 10th; and Kelsey McCaslin, 13th. That gave the Tigers 49 points, but the meet wasn’t a runaway with Sugar-Salem scoring 55.

“I honestly didn’t think they would be close,” Lawler said. “They ran amazing.”

The CdA boys, second a year ago, were in the hunt for the 5A title but came up short in a tight race despite putting two runners in the top 10. The Vikings had 93 points, behind Eagle (80) and Timberline (87) and ahead of Mountain View (100).

“They ran their hardest,” Compton said. “On any given day it was anyone’s ball game. … Timberline got second. I’m not sure where they came from. That’s what I mean, you never know what’s going to happen.”

A couple of Vikings were a little under the weather. Ben Woolley finished seventh for the Vikings and David Norris eighth.

“We needed a great day to win and we had a good day. I’m very proud of the boys,” Compton said. “They still made history. There has never been a trophy two years in a row, now we have every trophy except first.”