LIBBY — Badger cross country took part in their first meet on Saturday, Aug. 26, and, for many it was their first 5K race.

For Bonners Ferry, three boys and two girls ran in the varsity races. Typically, varsity teams have five runners, since the top five runners of every team are counted toward points.

Bonners Ferry head coach Tyler Warner said the team is still working on competition eligibility for a few runners, as they do not have 10 practices yet under their belts.

He said the program is waiting to get more experience before they start running the big varsity races.

“It can be intimidating for a kid who's never ran a 5K before to be in the same race as, for example, the boys from Coeur d'Alene whose first five runners all came in under 16 minutes,” he said. “So after talking with some of them we together agreed that some should be on JV this time around, but with a team this small everyone will have a chance to run varsity very soon.”

“We had a lot of small successes, though; we had a lot of new folks who completed their first races ever, some folks who finished their first 5Ks, and even a couple PRs,” he said.

Matthew McCabe improved at the Libby course by eight minutes as compared to last year, running 20:52, which is an overall personal record of 30 seconds from his fastest time last season.

The team is also establishing race routines and team rules for meets, such as touring the course prior to the race, warming-up and cool down routines.

“We also have cultural expectations, like the team area is empty during races because we're out supporting each other," he said, adding Libby was a great day for all of those practices and culture expectations.

Bonners Ferry will compete in Post Falls at the River Run on Thursday.

It is a 2-mile course, that is heavily wooded with lots of twists and turns. The race is organized by class and not varsity/junior varsity classification. Warner said this allows players to see how they rank against kids their age.

Warner said he is still trying to keep the big picture of the season in mind.

“So early season mileage is definitely our priority still,” he said. “We'll be doing a long run at Section 16 out in Paradise Valley, which is a team favorite area.”

Section 16 is designed and maintained by 9B Trails, including several loops that allow the Badgers to vary their workouts.

Warner said the trail allows the athletes to work on workouts with low impact on the joints since it's all natural surfaces.

“Since it is a turn heavy course, we will be doing a speed workout that involves coming out of turns,” Warner said. “The natural tendency is to want to slow down going into turns, which is fine, but then we try to work on explosiveness out of turns as well and alternating pace in the long straight stretches.”

The day prior to meets, the Badgers will run light recovery miles to keep things loose and stretch out any soreness from the rest of the week.

Libby Race Results

Boys Varsity: 1, Maximus Cervi-Skinner 15:31.3, Coeur d’Alene; 2, Jacob King 15:31.57, CDA; 3, Lachlan May 15:46.73, CDA; 4, Zackery Cervi-Skinner 15:49.05 CDA.

Bonners Ferry: 54, Micah Thomson 20:24.85; 59, Matthew McCabe 20:52.79; 63, Jacob Woods 21:06.04.

Girls Varsity: 1, Olivia May 19:16.79, CDA; 2, Lilli Rumsey Eash 19:45.2, Flathead; 3, Josie Wilson 19:49.33, Flathead; 4, Maeve Ingelfinger 20:30.82, Whitefish.

Bonners Ferry: 19, Sydney Beckle 22:51.74; 23, Matisy Stiern 23:31.67.