Jordan Young and Abigail Gorton of the Bonners Ferry High School cross country team were both recognized this fall as being among the elite runners in the state.

Jordan, a junior, and Gorton, a freshman, each had outstanding seasons and it comes as no surprise that they both made the girls District 1 all-district team, which is comprised of twelve runners in total.

Jordan has emerged as Bonners Ferry’s go-to runner. A soccer player and middle distance runner in track as a freshman, Jordan made a seamless transition to the 5k last season and built on that this season.

Despite her season being shortened by an injury, she had one of the best seasons in Bonners Ferry history, missing the school record for the 5k by only four seconds. Jordan ended her season 12th at state.

Other notable accomplishments include five top three finishes this year, including runner-up at districts. Jordan’s fastest time this season was 19:55.

Gorton was a star runner in middle school. Last spring she set the Boundary County Middle School mile record. Then, during her first cross country season at BFHS, she posted the fourth fastest time ever run by a girl at Bonners Ferry High School.

Gorton, whose father Steve was a collegiate runner and brother Samuel is also a BFHS runner, possesses a natural talent and a strong work ethic.

Notable performances include top four finishes in five races, including third at districts. She also came in 11th place at state this year and her fastest time of the season was 20:02.

Cross country coach Tyler Warner says the two girls make coaching easy.

According to Warner, the two are not only natural athletes, they are also hard workers who listen well to their coach’s advice and trust the training process. In doing so, they set a great example for the rest of the team, Warner says.

“When they buy in, it makes it easier for them to have success. And then others are like, ‘Oh, Abigail and Jordan work hard, they train in the offseason, they come to every practice, they do their homework.’ They can look at Jordan and see she’s had a really good couple years. Or even at Abigail, who is just a freshman and she’s already the 11th fastest runner in the state for 3A.”

Warner is proud to say that the two girls had the best cross country seasons the high school has witnessed since 2007.

“It makes me hopeful for our future as a team”, Warner says.

“Having those two, and especially having Abigail so young, means we could be a force to contend with here in a couple years, even next year. I really like our girls team’s chances of being really competitive at state next year.”