Jennifer Smith Ferris Year: Junior Sport: Cross Country

To reach her current elevated status, Jennifer Smith incorporated advice from past and present Ferris cross country runners.

Smith won the District 8-AAA 3,200-meter title last spring and vigorously turned her attention to cross country. She trained over the summer with Shelley Zickler, a 1993 Ferris graduate who runs for the University of Idaho.

“I was a freshman when (Zickler) was a senior,” Smith said. “She was someone I could look up to.”

Zickler ran for the ‘91 Saxons team that won the State AAA title.

Once the running season began this fall, Smith found another helpful resource: 1994 800-meter champ Kristin Parrish, a Ferris senior.

“I tell her to help me with my sprints at the end and I’ll help her with endurance,” Smith said of Parrish, the lone Greater Spokane League runner to beat the Saxons junior this season.

Nobody beat Smith last Saturday, when her time of 18 minutes, 42 seconds topped the Region IV-AAA field at Hangman Valley Golf Course. Smith became the school’s first girls district/ regional champ.

“I wasn’t surprised,” said Ferris coach Wayne Gilman. “I picked Jenny No. 1 going in.”

Smith and Ferris are top candidates to win this Saturday’s state meet at Pasco.

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