Official Idaho HS XC 2024 Thread

It's also not a post about an Idaho XC team until someone tears down another school..

I'm just trying to hype everyone up and provided reasons why it's great for CDA and reasons why it's great for the other schools.

Can you be a little more positive, or do we need to be tearing down 1 team every time we hype up another?

"I don’t know of any standout freshmen coming in to the team".

Stay tuned.........4:27 1500 guy coming I hear......(maybe 2).....

Can we ever have a post about what one team is achieving without it being about a certain school? Rocky is good, but what CDA is doing can be celebrated without it always turning into something about Rocky.

The bigger thing for Rocky’s chances for NXR is when they race CDA at the battle for the 509.

Switching gears… does anyone realistically have a shot of beating Ihmels and the Timberline girls as long as they don’t have a bad day?

Just saying, not everyone who runs for North Idaho Distance Project ends up going to CDA

Please don't accuse me of being a Rocky fanboy, and please don't make up stuff I said. I never turned it into something about Rocky, I celebrated CDA and celebrated Idaho XC.

Can I not mention the word Rocky without it triggering you? Grow up... News flash, I said the same thing about Rocky as I did Boise but you didn't get mad about that...

The transfers thread says Wil and Ruby Ihmels moved away. Is that true? What does that mean for Timberline girls and boys?

For girls, I initially thought Timberline would be the favorites, but now I think without their low stick, Boise and maybe Rocky could put 4-5 each in front of Timberline's 2.

For boys, Timberline has a lot of young talent, so I'm guessing they will still make state, but I find it hard to believe they have chances of a top 5. They could also be like Centennial last year, with really strong track times but then they fizzle out for XC.

Timberline has a girl that has run 5:06 and 11:09, one that has run 5:11 and 11:37 and are bringing in a 5:11 girl. They are still very legit. They also put 2 of those girls in front of Rocky's #1 at State and put 3 of their returners in front of Boise's #3 returner. Add in that they are adding a girl that would have been the 9th fastest returning girl in District III, and it's not as grim as you are making it out to be.

The girls teams that should make state out of 5A District III are Timberline, Rocky, Boise, Eagle, Owyhee, Capital and most likely Mountain View. I'm guessing they will be in just about that order. I do think that the first 5 are the ones that have a shot to trophy.

1600m time averages for top 5 returners and incoming kids:
Timberline: 5:17
Rocky: 5:13
Boise: 5:19
Eagle: 5:23
Owyhee: 5:31
Capital: 5:30
Mountain View: 5:34

Owyhee's is tricky because one of their girls only ran 5:52 but has run 11:52, so clearly better than what she has run. One of Timberline's girls ran 5:24 in 22 vs 5:29 in 23.

I think the take on Timberline boys is correct. Lots of good pieces, but one of those guys is really an 800 guy (like McOmber), they've got some young talent, and a guy that could be top 10 in Jones (like Blaser). The top boys teams have to be CDA, Rocky, Boise, and Mountain View. The next group of guys teams would likely be Timberline and Centennial. Oywhee, Meridian, Eagle, Highland are probably the third tier of teams that will have a shot to qualify but are towards the bottom of the State meet. Owyhee, Meridian, and Eagle will be an absolute dog fight to see who gets those last two spots.

Timberline girls team had a good shot to make NXN before we knew that Ihmels is moving, but moving ruined their chances of making NXN

In post 131 in this thread, it was mentioned that he won’t be attending CDA (Spokane). But we will see

Does this mean that Jeff Howard is starting the process of stepping away from Rocky, or is he just going to need a new assistant coach?

CDA is #8 in the nation preseason

Also Rocky and Boise both on watchlist.

For the Northwest he ranked CDA 1st, Rocky 7th, Boise 10th.

On the girls side, Timberline is on the watchlist, but I don't think he knows that the Ihmels moved out.

With Ruby gone, who is going to win? What about a dark horse pick that isn’t Audrey Orme or Paisley Taylor?

Not a dark horse, but Faith Johnson is the highest placing returner now that Ruby is out. She had a rough track season, but could rebound for XC.

A real dark horse would be Lily Simmonds or Brooke Thompson. Lily will be a senior for T-Line, she placed 14th last year.

Brook placed 18th as a Freshman for Rocky, and considering the conditions last year were miserable, the fact that both Lily and Brooke PR'd at state tells me they have some big jumps waiting to happen.

Betsy Reeder (16th) and Klarisa Earl (15th) were the top 2 highest placing freshman so they could be a dark horse.

Of those mentioned:

Faith Johnson: 5:02.04 for 7th at 5A State Meet, 11:04.63 in Idaho, 11:05.25 for 7th at 5A State Meet.
Lily Symmonds: 5:11.99 at Oregon Relays, 5:19.53 in Idaho, 24th in 5A District III 1600, 11:37.83 for 11th at 5A District III.
Brooke Thompson: 5:18.60 in Idaho, 27th in 5A District III 1600, 11:13.95 at Jesuit, 11:35.54 in Idaho, 11:42.66 for 11th at 5A District III.
Betsy Reeder: 5:11.64 in Idaho, 13th in 5A District III 1600, 11:08.72 for 9th at 5A State Meet.
Klarisa Earl: 5:17.37 in Idaho, 5:18.36 for 12 at 5A State Meet but also ran the 300mh, which probably interfered in how fast she could have gone.

Faith Johnson has by far the best marks, then Reeder, Thompson, Symmonds, and Earl.

Lily Sullivan also ran 5:07.52 and 11:05.22, both in Idaho. Olivia May was top 10 at State cross and ran 5:15 and 11:40. Sasha Livingston ran 5:06.89 and 11:09.62 in Idaho.

If I were betting I would say the most likely dark horse runners are Johnson, Sullivan, Pollock, Livingston, Reeder, May, Earl, Symmonds, Thompson in that order.

Of the freshmen from last year, their best recorded marks were 5:29 (Earl), 5:33 (Thompson), and 5:51 (Reeder). There could totally be a freshman girl that just bursts onto the scene and sees big improvements that steals the show as well.

I think the Rocky girls will easily win state, though. I bet they put 5 in the top 20.