SPIRIT LAKE - For everything they've accomplished, the back-to-back state 3A girls championships and perfect score earlier this season, the Timberlake girls varsity team has remained about as close as sisters.

Winning for each other, no matter what the situation.

"We'd qualified a team (for state) nearly every year I've been coach," Timberlake coach Shawn Lawler said. "We've always had a state medalist (top 20), but never a team like this."

Lawler started the program in 2003, when the Tigers only had seven runners.

Timberlake's girls finished fourth at state in 2008, their first team trophy in cross country.

From there - the rest has been history.

The school's first girls state team title came in 2009 at Circling Raven Golf Course in Worley, when they beat Gooding by 13 points.

"It was really overwhelming," senior Dominique Vanderwilt said. "We really wanted to win it for Alex (Turbin). She was the only senior on the team, so we wanted to send her out on a good note."

"We were doing it for her," senior Brooke Nowlan said. "Just the way the program has evolved has been amazing. That summer was the first time we'd trained as a group ... it was our first girls title in school history."

Of racing just miles away from their Spirit Lake campus, the team was able to relax the night before the event.

"It wasn't that stressful," Vanderwilt said. "As a group, we can race anywhere."

Timberlake went from having nine runners on varsity during Vanderwilt and Nowlan's freshman year to 16 this season as they chase a third straight girls 3A state title.

Last year, with Ashly George, Nowlan and Vanderwilt back, as well as senior Kelsey McCaslin and freshman Rachel Ward, Timberlake beat Sugar-Salem by six points to repeat as state champs at Kelly Park in Soda Springs.

"Everyone was in on it," said Ward, now a sophomore. "This team is like a second family to me."

They'll look for a three-peat Oct. 29 at Eagle Island State Park in Eagle, a course they ran over the weekend during the Bob Firman Invitational, featuring teams from Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

"We get a chance to preview the state course," Lawler said last week. "We're getting a chance to see what it's like and see the competition from the other end of the state."

Ten teams that could also be in contention for the 3A title were also in attendance.

George, a junior, finished second out of 161 runners in the Division 2 race at the Firman meet.

In their second meet of the season, at the Priest River Invitational, Timberlake's girls recorded a perfect score of 15, placing five runners in the first five positions.

"I couldn't believe we were able to do that," Nowlan said. "That's the competition we'll see at districts."

The district meet will be in Priest River on Oct. 20.

"It was pretty exciting," said Lawler of the perfect finish. "That's a goal they set for themselves the night before. I told them that we'd had some really good boys teams, but they'd always score in the 20s or 18s. Every time they set those goals, I'm just amazed they don't feel the pressure to do it - they just go out and do it. I've never seen them falter. They wanted to win at Silverwood, but ended up losing to Cheney by three points - and Cheney is a good school. But they're a group that knows how to achieve those high goals."

George, who has been a top finisher for the Tigers most of the season, sat out the meet at Farragut with an injury.

"She had a sore Achilles tendon, so we rested her last week," Lawler said. "We didn't want to put her out there in that level of competition when last weekend's meet (at Silverwood) was more important as far as seeing where we're at."

Timberlake won the girls B team title at the Farragut meet over Riverside of Chattaroy, Wash.

"Chemistry is really important with this team," Lawler said. "They feel like they can take care of it themselves."

Not only are they leaders on the race course, but also in the classroom, with the team earning a combined 3.80 GPA last season, just .2 points off being named academic state champions in 2010.

"They are all great students in the classroom," Lawler said.

"This is a really high character group," he added. "I always know they're going to do the right thing. You can learn a lot about the person you're going to be as an adult in high school. Having a fun group is cool, but having that piece of character is good to have."

Coming together as a group to form an almost sisterhood has also benefited the program.

"They all just love spending time together," Lawler said. "They just flat out like each other and care about each other. We have team dinners, they sleep over at each others' houses and just enjoy being together."

"This year is probably the closest I've been with any of the ladies," George said.

It's been a lot of fun," sophomore Lindsay Richardson said. "We've became such good friends that I feel I can tell them anything."

"I've enjoyed seeing us improve over the years," Nowlan said. "We're so much faster as a group right now. It has been nice to see that the older we get, the faster we are."

"They've been very supportive this year," freshman Natalie Herring said. "It has definitely been a lot of fun."