After more than a decade of losing, a Boise team finally breaks through at Bob Firman
Even on light workout days, Aaron Olswanger has to remind his team to slow down.
But when you’re chasing big dreams, it can be hard to take it easy.
The Boise High girls cross country team surprised the field at the 44th annual Bob Firman Invitational, claiming the elite girls team title on Saturday at Eagle Island State Park.
The Braves totaled 85 points to beat out Great Oak of Temecula, California, which scored 95 points in the 5-kilometer race. Great Oak entered the meet as the No. 3 team in the nation, according to milesplit.com, while Boise checked in at No. 14.
“They are competitors. They listened to the race plan,” Olswanger said. “We didn’t talk about who was in this race today. We talked about the course. We came out here a couple times last week and then kind of perfected everything today.”
Boise is the first Idaho school to win a Bob Firman team title — boys or girls — since 2004. The invitational has grown into one of the biggest and best in the Northwest with 4,295 runners representing 197 schools and nine states entered in the 2018 edition.
“I’m not super surprised by (the win),” Boise senior Maggie Liebich said. “We’ve been running well, and I think we’ll continue to run well. But when I do reflect back on the fact that we beat Great Oak, it’s kind of incredible.”
Great Oak junior Tori Gaitan won the girls elite race in 17 minutes, 53.5 seconds, and teammate Arianna Griffiths crossed second in 17:57.4.
But the Boise girls proved more consistent across the board. Liebich paced the Braves with a third-place finish in 18:01.3, followed by sophomore Rosina Machu (14th, 18:15.4), senior Eve Jensen (20th, 18:28.4), freshman Logan Smith (34th, 18:57.4) and junior Molly Elliott (38th, 19:00.6). The Braves’ non-scoring runners were freshman Mikella Tobin (98th, 20:19.3) and senior Sophie Steckel (111th, 20:47.2).
Liebich, who has only been running competitively since the ninth grade, made her name known at the 5A state track and field meet last May, seemingly coming out of nowhere to win the 800 and 1,600 meters in record-setting times.
She’s now among the favorites to challenge for a state cross country title, and her teammates are staying close on her heels.
“We’ve got a pretty strong top seven, so we talk about how one person can have a bad race and we can still perform well,” Liebich said. “We don’t talk too much about long-term goals, but they’re in the back of everyone’s mind.”
Those long-term goals might include vying for wins at the 5A District Three Championship meet (Oct. 19, Eagle Island), 5A state meet (Oct. 27, Lewiston) and Nike Northwest Regional meet (Nov. 10, Eagle Island).
In the mean time, Olswanger has every intention of keeping his girls’ legs fresh.
“There’s days when we have to say, ‘Girls, stop running so fast. Slow down,’” he said. “We don’t want to beat each other up. We want to take it out in the race.”
ELITE BOYS RECAP
The Great Oak boys one-upped their female counterparts, winning the elite boys team championship with 48 points. Skyridge (Utah) was second with 84 points, Davis (Utah) was third at 140, and Idaho Falls took fourth with 192.
Senior Grant Gardner of Springville (Utah) finished one-tenth of a second short of tying the meet record with his winning time of 15:06.7. Idaho Falls senior Zach Erikson was second in 15:09.4, and Borah sophomore Nathan Green came in third in 15:10.9.
Green, who missed the 2017 cross country season after breaking the growth plate in his left hip, looked like he was going to run down Erikson and Gardner on the final straightaway before the finish line.
But just as he was catching Erikson, Green’s quad tightened up, forcing him to slow his pace. It is the first loss of the season for Green.
“I have not ran this hard yet, and it’s a good stepping stone to get into the harder races,” Green said. “I’m just excited to see what the next race brings for me.”
Click here for complete Bob Firman results.
This story was originally published September 22, 2018 at 7:01 PM.