An especially competitive district this season has been District 3 in 6A.

Timberline, which won a program first 5A girls state championship last season, has won five meets this season, including the Nike Twilight 4A/3A varsity girls title on Oct. 5 in Washington. The Capital girls won Nike Portland on Sept. 28 by five points over Oregon powerhouse Summit. Rocky Mountain placed third in the girls elite team standings at the Bob Firman Invitational on Sept. 28 at Eagle Island State Park, six points back of second place Boise.

Boise is coming off varsity championship boys and girls team titles at the Rose City Championships on Oct. 11 in Portland, receiving a pair of trophies that were actual roses encased in 24 karat gold. Boise was the lone Idaho school at the meet which drew 53 teams.

"I have an inside look at what we've been doing, how we've been practicing and how we've been racing," Boise head coach Aaron Olswanger said by phone. "I knew we could hang with that level of competition on both sides on that day. We had a great day, JV up to varsity. To me it was a validation of all the hard work the kids have put in over the summer." 

The girls win was by a 15-point margin over defending Nike Cross Northwest Regional champion Lincoln of Portland. Junior Audrey Orme led Boise with her seventh place finish in 17:22.50 while fellow junior Lucy Spiess was 17th in 17:52.50.

"Lincoln has been phenomenal the last few years," Olswanger said. "(Head coach) Eric Dettman does a heck of a job at Lincoln. They've been a mode of consistency the last few years. For us to climb back in that conversation, for us to see them and see Summit who has been a powerhouse, we wanted to see how we stacked up against them."

Rose City gave the Brave a boost in the national spotlight, as the Brave received a No. 22 ranking in Dyestat.com's Oct. 17 girls team U.S. rankings. Additionally, the Oct. 10 Dyestat.com Northwest Regional girls team rankings included Timberline (No. 3), Boise (No. 4) and  Rocky Mountain (No. 5) while Capital got a shoutout in the write up accompanying the rankings.

"We knew Rocky Mountain and Timberline were reloaded and had a lot of returners," Olswanger said. "(Head coach) John Doherty has done a great job over at Capital. We get to battle at least every other week with at least one of those schools."

District 3 also features three of the four girls in Idaho to have broken 18 minutes thus far this season. Boise's Orme and Spiess are two of them. Paisley Taylor, a Meridian senior, most recently ran 17:00.1 on Oct. 17 to win the Bugtown Invite in Caldwell, a personal best and the No. 2 all-time fastest girls 5k on record in Idaho. 

On the boys side in District 3, Rocky Mountain has won every meet on its schedule except for Bob Firman, where the Grizzlies placed third to lead Idaho teams in the boys elite race. Among their victories was a perfect score of 15 at the Jerome Open on Aug. 29 and a repeat seeded boys team title at the Tiger-Grizz Invitational on Sept. 13 in Idaho Falls.  Two of the four Idaho boys to break 15 minutes this season are also from District 3: Meridian senior Nate Stadtlander and Boise senior Jack Sheesley. Stadtlander, who won the Idaho 5A boys individual state title last season, ran 14:57.4 on Oct. 5 at Nike Twilight in Washington and 14:47 on Oct. 17 at the Bugtown Invite in Caldwell, which is No. 5 all-time on record for an Idaho boy. Sheesley threw down the fastest time of the season thus far in Idaho, as well as the No. 1 fastest all-time Idaho boys time on record for a 5k cross country course upon finishing third at the Rose City Championships in 14:36.80 on Oct. 11 in Portland. It was his first sub-15 minute time of his career, and he made up ground to secure that third place finish and massive personal best. 

"For me, I'm more proud of him because he got dropped with about 1,200 to go, 800 to go and he clogged back in and outkicked two kids," Olswanger said. "He just fought all the way to the finish."

Sheesley and fellow senior Jens Knutsen, who placed 14th in 15:11.30, led the Brave to the team title with a 27-point margin over Ida B. Wells of Portland.

While acknowledging the depth and talent in 6A District 3, Olswanger had high praise for the Mountain View boys this season and what the Mavs have accomplished thus far.

"Mountain View boys are really good," Olswanger said. "They're incredibly deep like us." 

Moving On Up

Another Idaho team moved up in recent national rankings.

Along with the Boise girls, the Coeur d'Alene boys were included in Dyestat.com's Oct. 17 U.S. rankings upon receiving the No. 13 spot. The Vikings most recently repeated as NIke Hole in the Wall boys elite champions on Oct. 12 in Smokey Point, Wash., winning by a a 20-point margin over Jesuit (Portland) and getting sub-15 times from twin brothers Max Cervi-Skinner (14:40.1, second place) and Zack Cervi-Skinner (14:53.1, fifth place).

In addition to Taylor and Stadtlander, Twin Falls sophomore Raelee Richardson attained a massive personal best and moved up among Idaho's all-time best this last week. Richardson, the 4A individual state runner-up last season, placed second to Taylor at the Bugtown Invite in 17:11.5, her first sub-18 minute time of her career and also No. 4 all-time on record in Idaho. 

On the Horizon

Districts begin today with the 4A District 3 Snake River Valley Conference championships in Payette. Meets continue through Friday with state qualifying spots on the line.

The next edition of Breaking the Tape will be a state meet preview for all classifications.