WELLSVILLE – By Cari Doutre – September 21, 2020
Once again Madison White, a senior at Bear River High School and a member of the girls’ cross-country team, ran to another first-place finish and the 2020 season isn’t over yet for her or the Bears.
White took first place at the Cache Box Invitational cross-country meet held Wednesday, September 16, in Wellsville at the American West Heritage Center, a one course known for difficult conditions. Her time of 18:59 minutes was 23 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Kate Dickson from Sky View High School.
“Madi is always going to have great competition in our region. Besides her, there are three other girls who medaled at state,” said Bear River High’s cross-country coach Dan Line.
“She is just starting to get race fit. She really felt confident the whole race. We haven’t rested her yet and she is still training really hard. Madi has big goals,” Line added.
Naomi Tomlinson, a junior at Bear River, finished in 11th place overall (20:43). Shylee Kofoed (21:55) took 24th place followed by Kaitlyn McKee (24:19) and Abby Rhodes (26:55) for the Bears’ varsity girls’ team.
The Bear River girls’ team finished sixth place overall with Ridgeline High School taking first. Eight teams total from Box Elder County, Cache County and Preston (Idaho), compete each year in this traditional non-region meet.
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The boys’ team from Bear River fared better overall taking second place behind Preston High but also marking a big victory over Ridgeline High School – it was the first time in school history that the varsity boys’ team beat Ridgeline High.
“They smoked us the first week of the season at the Premier Invite,” Line said about Ridgeline High.
That victory meant a lot to the Bear River boys’ varsity team and not just because of a 51 seconds per runner improvement for them.
“The boys really have a lot of respect for the Ridgeline team and their coaches. We hope we can be our best at region next month because that’s what it will take to beat them again,” Line added.
Senior Peter Nielsen was the first member of the Bears’ varsity team to finish. Nielsen took fourth place with a time of 16:42 minutes.
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Daniel Curtis (16:51) came in 12th overall with Gabriel Wilson right on his heels in 13th place (17:22). Rounding out for the Bears were Phillip Gallegos (17:48), Matthew Spotten (17:55), Keyjun Hale (18:16) and senior Kourtlan Rasmussen (19:10).
“We are really pleased with every boy, especially Kourtlan who is still working hard to get in shape and is battling an injury. He set the pace early for the team and they followed him and it really paid off,” Line said.
The junior varsity and rookie boys’ teams from Bear River took first place at the Cache Box Invite in their divisions. In the girls’ junior varsity race, freshman Rebecca Curtis came in second place with a time of 21:27 minutes.
Coming up next for the Bear River cross-country team is the Royal Run at Roy High School on Saturday, Sept. 26. Race time starts at 8 a.m.
Photos by Tyrell Neal