The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Jan. 8 the state-by-state winners of its inaugural High School Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Medical Lake head cross country and track coach Gene Blankenship earned the vote for the state of Washington.
“There’s an awful lot of great coaches in Washington state that have better records than I,” Blankenship said. “Coaches don’t win those kind of things without having some kids that are really dedicated.”
Blankenship has overseen Medical Lake winning back-to-back state 1A cross country titles and his team also claimed the 2014 1A track championship.
An award-winning and championship coach in California before moving to the Spokane area when his wife retired, Blankenship spent a number of years serving as an assistant coach. He was hired at Medical Lake in 2010.
For his work in California, Blankenship was inducted into the Mt. San Antonio College California Coaches Hall of Fame in 2008 after leading Hart High School in Santa Clarita to numerous titles.
State-by-state winners were selected based on their teams’ performances throughout the 2014 season. Among the factors taken into consideration were team score and placement at the state championships, margin of victory, performance against rankings, individual championships, and how their teams’ performances stacked up to previous years.
The winners from each state are in consideration for the association’s first-ever National High School Coach of the Year award for cross country.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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