The little cross country team that did
Perhaps you noticed in Wednesday’s paper how well the North Idaho Cross Country (NIXC) club team performed at the USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country National Championships last Saturday at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park in Reno, Nev.
To review:
- One individual national champion.
- 12 All-Americans.
- One team finishing third out of 27 teams in its age group.
- Another team fourth out of 22 teams, and still another squad fifth out of 30.
- It was NIXC’s best performance at nationals since the club was formed in 2005.
THANKS TO some information provided by Kristi Rietze, board member for North Idaho Cross Country, here’s some background on this highly successful club:
North Idaho Cross Country was founded in Coeur d’Alene in 2005 by Mark Curtis. The club’s mission then and now is to inspire and train talented youth runners seeking to compete at the USATF Jr. Olympic National Championship. NIXC organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit youth sports organization in 2018. Over 13 years, NIXC has produced 42 All-American runners (top-25 finishers), including three national champions.
Dubbed the premier cross country running club for youth in the area, NIXC attracts athletes from Sandpoint, Rathdrum, Hayden, Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Liberty Lake. Runners practice through the summer season, break for school programs, and reconvene for an eight-week fall program to prepare, compete and qualify for the Junior Olympic National Championship in December.
“My mission was to train more than just running but to also teach teamwork and sportsmanship. Part of the training program has always been that we can beat better talent with better preparation,” said Curtis, a Navy Seal.
COACH ERIN Lydon Hart became head coach in 2015. With an MBA in finance from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business and a Wall Street background, Hart uses her knowledge and experience to nurture and inspire young runners to reach their full potential, Rietze said. Her experience working in the financial markets and later as a corporate director prepared her to lead NIXC runners to their best. Coming from a business world with high pressures and high expectations, Hart has brought that same intensity to how she coaches.
“My business background translates well to the race course and coaching 30-plus national competitors,” Hart said. “I always dream big and expect the same from those around me whether it is in the board room or on the practice field. Discipline, preparation and resilience are required to reach the elite level of an USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country All-American. I truly believe I am not just coaching talented youth runners; I am preparing the next generation of leaders. These kids will succeed because of the lessons learned during a late-afternoon practice on a dark and cold November night in North Idaho. These kids will succeed because grit becomes part of their DNA after miles spent grinding up steep hills and speeding around soccer fields. I expect a lot from them so they learn to expect even more from themselves. NIXC runners have enormous potential; I just help them find it in themselves.”
MORE FROM Kristie:
From 8-year-old Rowan Henry’s national champion first-place finish to start the day to 17-year-old Chris Kuplack’s second-place finish to end it; there is a story to tell about every race and every racer who battled with grit and grace to cross the finish line last Saturday. NIXC trains in the exact conditions faced in Reno — snowy, below-freezing temps, muddy and slushy. NIXC runners are physically and mentally rock solid, she said. This was not the course or conditions for a race to PR; this was a race to just get over the finish line.
“I was the oldest on the team when I joined and couldn’t believe it when, at the first practice, I saw kids working as hard or harder than I was,” Kuplack said. “It actually blew me away because of all the sports teams I’ve been on I’ve never seen the kind of push, drive, energy and enthusiasm they showed. That was only the beginning. I didn’t even think it was possible for young kids to want to do something like this. Most people whine, ‘Cross country ... that’s hard!’ and ‘It doesn’t have a ball ... that’s boring!’ But this team works harder and has more fun than any team — that totally surprised and was foreign to me until now. I love it.”
Hart had the last word:
“At every practice, we use a quote to guide our training — quotes that inspire grit, resilience and perseverance,” she said. “The quote for nationals was ‘The task ahead of us is never greater than the strength within us.’ NIXC runners ran with fast feet, quick elbows, strong hearts and smart brains to overtake many competitors who, while more highly ranked in the entry standings, could never match our grit and determination on a challenging race day.”
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.