Senior focused on 4th state trip

SPIRIT LAKE – He isn’t just training for first-place finishes anymore.

Now he’s training to run down (and tackle) the bad guys.

Senior football player and standout track athlete, Josh Malloy is starting to think about where he will channel his athletic ability once he graduates from Timberlake High School.

“I’m thinking about going to (North Idaho College) and getting a degree for law enforcement, criminal justice,” Malloy said. “I want to be a police officer to start, then work my way up to bigger and better things.”

But for now he’s focused on leading his championship track team to state for the fourth consecutive year. Malloy made his first trip to state as a freshman and while the experience was somewhat nerve-wracking, he said his coaches tried to keep the team as calm as possible.

“The coaches didn’t expect too much our first year,” Malloy said. “They just said have fun and experience it. Not having so much pressure the first time down made it kind of nice.”

Since then, going to state has been a regular occurrence for Malloy. In the past two years he has finished in the top 10 in both the long jump and the triple jump. His success carries over to the football field where he uses the speed he has gained on the track to run the ball.

“He made every carry count and he was an all-conference running back,” said Roy Albertson, football coach at Timberlake.

Malloy really made himself known in the first round of the playoffs when he helped his team to a 56-8 victory against Bonners Ferry. His quick feet and quick wit landed him with five tackles and a win.

“The speed is what mostly helps,” Malloy said. “If you can transfer speed from track onto the football field, that helps a lot as far as reaction time for making cuts.”

But football wasn’t quite as much of a breeze as track, especially considering the competition Malloy was up against – namely on his own team. Malloy played alongside fellow running back Nick Puckett, who was MVP of the Intermountain League.

“Nick’s pretty good so … that pushed me to do better,” Malloy said. “I was just glad he was on my team and not someone else’s.”

While Malloy doesn’t mind healthy competition, team rivalry isn’t his only obstacle. The senior athlete noticed a little trouble breathing his freshman year during basketball and found out he has asthma.

“Sometimes when I’m out there (on the football field) I would get winded so I would have to sit a couple plays out and then go back in,” Malloy said.

Still, Malloy fights through it and keeps his inhaler close by. Despite having shortness of breath at times, Malloy doesn’t see that as his biggest barrier.

“Other than (the asthma), the other limits are mental things that keep me from doing what I need to,” Malloy said. “If you don’t think you’re gonna do good, you’re not, but if you have confidence you usually perform well.”

When Malloy’s not playing football or running track, he’s training. Workouts are fine and all, but carb-loading at his parents’ pizza joint is one of his favorite tasty tools. Malloy works for his parents who own Fourth & Main Pizza in Spirit Lake.

“I work to help make car payments and pay insurance and go snowboarding,” he said. “And it’s nice cause there’s free food.”

Whether he’s playing sports or stuffing his face with pies, Malloy has talent, said Albertson.

“He leads by example,” Albertson said about Malloy’s work ethic on the football field. “I think he’ll be successful whatever he chooses to pursue.”