By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Ophir Middle School introduced a co-ed cross-country team this fall, and coach Tina Albers hopes it will blossom into a high school program.
Last spring, Albers started the Ophir Middle School track team and saw strong participation. Lone Peak High School introduced a girls cross-country team last fall, but not enough high school students showed interest in either of the program’s first two years. Albers would have coached that team.
“This fall, I decided, since we don’t have high school cross-country—because no girls were going out [for it]—I’d start the middle school [team]. And it’s been very successful,” Albers said. Ophir’s founding cross-country runners are Nick Hoadley, Nikky Kamenizrz, Sam Miller, Russell and Steen Mitchell.
Coach Albers is looking for kids who aren’t usually involved in team sports, and of those who are athletes, she’s found they’re becoming dedicated runners. She even has a couple runners splitting time with soccer and entering cross-country meets when they can.
This year, the team had seven meets. Albers is considering bringing a couple of her middle schoolers to Kentucky for the national middle school meet. Someday, Albers imagines hosting cross-country meets in Big Sky.
“We have enough area around here,” she suggested. “If we could talk someone—if we could talk the golf course into letting us run the course, that would be good. But we have enough trails around here too, that we could probably get something going.”
When trying to convince runners to join, Albers acknowledges that cross-country practices are hard.
“But when you go out and you’re in a race, and you’re in the top 10, or top 30. It’s extremely rewarding… It’s the excitement of doing well,” she said.
For now, the high school’s cross-country team would only allow girls. But with middle school boys feeding into the high school, Albers hopes everyone can participate when the program launches.
“Every single meet they just get better and better and better. It’s fun to watch,” Albers said.
