SPOKANE VALLEY – The Valley Christian Panthers came home with a team trophy after the 1B/2B cross country state championship in Pasco on Nov. 4.
According to Head Coach Michael Drick the team has been growing over the past couple of years, and they were able to bring everything together to win the big prize this year.
“You know, everything has to fall together perfectly to get results,” Drick said. “Fortunately, our runners stayed healthy and put the work, training and practice in.”
Drick, who spent 20 years coaching in Alaska said he could see the potential in the Valley Christian team from the start.
“The one thing that really stands out to me is the camaraderie these kids show,” Drick said. “They train together, they eat together, they go watch movies together, and I think that had a lot to do with them sticking together to win this.”
“They try to include everyone in everything they do and it’s great to see.”
Drick said the team has done a lot of “hill training” and that helped the team become stronger runners.
Drick also said some of the kids didn’t really keep a weekly regimen through the offseason. Runners like phenom Preston Arnold, and according to Drick, Arnold is just a natural runner and didn’t need the big workload through summer.
Connor Simonds on the other hand kept running a steady 15-20 miles per week, and the results were evident this season the coach said.
One performance at state that helped the team claim victory was the finishing stretch by Job Hill according to the coach.
“I wasn’t at the finish line,” Drick said. “But when I watched the video I saw Job pass 10 people in the final 180 meters, and that helped us win because one of our guys cramped up and fell back a few spots.”
Drick hopes to have another strong season next year and doesn’t have any seniors graduation this year so he will be able to build with the same team.
“You know we certainly hope for a repeat,” Drick said. “But in the end, we can’t predict injuries, and winning actually puts us under pressure from other teams because they will be going for us next year.”
Matthew graduated from West Virginia University-Parkersburg in 2011 with a journalism degree. He's an award-winning photographer and enjoys writing stories about people.
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