BONNERS FERRY — The 2022 Badger Cross Country Jamboree season opener was a great success.

Head coach Tyler Warner said the Jamboree is gaining a larger turnout from cross country teams in the region. The last few years Post Falls High School has made the jamboree the culminating event of their training camp week and Timberlake and Priest River are regular attendees.

He added that Timberlake Coach Shawn Lawler always has great things to say about the course.

“The maintenance on the field sections turned out awesome and the work the team put in on the trail sections made for a good experience for everybody,” Warner said.

Warner said in addition to being a good fundraiser for the Idaho Youth Endowment for Activities.

program, which helps small Idaho schools with travel costs among other things, it’s a great early season rust buster.

“We settled on two miles to comply with the YEA guidelines for under three miles. Two miles is also a good distance for early season and new runners to get a feel for pacing,” he said. “Since we have so many new boys on the team, including freshmen, it was a great sample of what we can expect.”

“Ryan Beckle clearly had a good summer of training, leading the way for us, but I’m also deeply encouraged by the success of freshmen Micah Thomson and Jack Woods, who were not far behind,” he said.

Aiden Hyde, Ian Williams, and Maddux Martinez also had good days, which is encouraging to see this early, he said.

“For the girls, I am seeing Sydney Beckle also reaping the benefits of summer training and building off strong XC/track seasons her freshman year. She could have a great season based on how she’s started.,” he said. “Senior Ceci Roemer also had a good day, staying towards the front third of the race and mixing it up against mostly Post Falls girls.”

Warner said the team learned a lot about where they are starting from and can make some adjustments going forward.

“I always tell the team to trust the process, and today was a step in that direction, getting a feel for this sort of racing,” he said.

The Badgers will look to improve on a 5k course at Libby and on another two mile course at Post Falls before settling into 5k races for the rest of the season, including the home meet on Sept. 17 and districts on Oct 20.

Warner thanked the volunteers who helped monitor the course, most of whom were cross country parents and coaches, and all who came out and supported the Badgers and the YEA.