North Central Boys To NTN Nationals

The Team Is Still the Thing

North Central on the Eve of NTN Nationals
Portland Orergon, Dec 2

North Central Boys have been on a long slow climb to the top.  The assent really started 15 years ago when Jon Knight took on the job as Boys XC coach.

During the past 15 years the North Central boys played near the bottom of the heap, plodded through the ranks , seeming to be stuck just below the surface.  This year the North Central boys finally put it all together.  In a season that stated out great and just keeps getting better, they beat their long time rivals Ferris and Mead in regular season meets.  This was the first defeat NC was able to hand to Mead in 20 seasons. The placed first at the NTN Western regionals at Boise, earning them a birth at the NTN Nationals in Portland this Sat Dec 2.The then continued the march thru the season, taking first in the 3A division at the state meet and posting 4 runners on the dominant Washington boys team at Borderclash.

The team kept showing up at big meets, becoming more dependable and predictable in their stellar performances.  The national ranking began to take notice.  By mid season NC was ranked third in the nation.  They finished up slipping to 5th but Milesplit has reranked the team on the eve of the NTN nationals to #2.

By the time the  NTN western regional Meet in Boise Idaho.  The NC team was tested and ready to run.

This was Meads big chance to even the score.  

The race started out bad for the NC boys, Jeff Howard the #3 runner fell soon after the race started.  The back four runners of the team saw this , in a split second, they all needed to decide, either the race was hopeless,( How could anyone survive a mishap like this in a race of such heavyweight teams and high stakes?) Or each runner , in his heart had to act like a true teammate and make up whatever place Jeff would have secured if he wasn’t flat on his face.

Each athlete, Andrew Wordell, Adam Tyler, Alex Avila,  the solid rear echelon of the NC squad, made the right choice, each one stepped up and split the difference between winning and losing.  By mid race, Jeff stepped up to, not only did he get back in the race, he moved through the pack and recovered just about to the place he was expected to be.  As he passed his determined teammates,  he showed them just what a team does. Everyone pulls together to make just about any scenario pay off.  The rear 3 now understood  what was about to happen.  They stepped up to fix Jeff’s fall, Jeff stepped up to fix Jeff’s fall, all 4 were way ahead of where they expected.  Or needed to be.

In the end there wasn’t much any of the other teams could do.  

In a gesture of teamwork at its best, NC took first place and sealed the trip to Portland and the NTN finals DEC 2.

What makes this team tick.

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Andrew Kimpel 11, the team spearhead, showing consistent race performance, strong pushes and gut checking finishes. Don't let his jokester demeanor trick you up,  when he is racing, he is serious.

Leon Dean 11, determined racing, feeding off and spurring on his teammates. This runner has set his site on bringing a strong force to every race ,The North Central middle punch.

Jeff Howard   11 , a natural team player, found the perfect fit when he started running with these guys.

Steve Hicks 12 ,the team compass, he keeps morale high, work determined and the team on board.

Alex Cevila 10, showed up as a strong competitor from day 1, a talented freshman he quickly landed a varsity spot, which he held thru this season.  

Andrew Wordell 9, the new kid, talent, determination, appreciation of what is going on to him and because of him this year.

Adam Tyler   12.  Adam jumped ship from the football team as a sophomore.  He brought with him an appreciation for work, hard running and winning. He sees himself securing the future of the team, encouraging younger runners, keeping them at practice, helping with grades.


A pretty young team.

Andrew and Jeff were 19:00 plus freshman runners.
Adam Tyler came over from the football team as a sophomore
Andrew Wordell is a sub 17 freshman but is a freshman , splitting his game time as a soccer goalie

So what is the secret here?

Well, they do work hard.  The entire team spends most of the summer racking up miles. They encourage each other to show up, meeting at each others houses to keep the summer miles high.

The also pride themselves on logging long winter runs thru the snow and ice of Spokane.

They  all can easily point to one moment that defined them as runners, events that showed them that they didn’t need to be mediocre athletes on a mediocre team.

One thing that came up when talking to all theses guys was the clear defining moment when they understood themselves to be capable of a season like this season.

They also were clear and articulate when crediting their trust and belief in their coach.

Jon Knight desires to hone fine citizens and human beings, more than great athletes.  His compass points the team to community outreach and service projects.  The team is a regular fixture at the areas food banks and homeless shelters.

Everyone on NC understands what an honor and privilege it is to be a member of the NC team.  
Teamwork is a fine goal.  We all try to instill this value into our teams.  We understand that XC , more than any other sport, is at its best when all runners act with the best interest of the team, at the forefront.  We motivate and preach, sometimes they get it , many times they don’t.


The North Central Cross Country team gets it.  I talked to all these guys about the teamwork force.  Each one made it very clear, they are in each race to see how much they can help the other guy do better.  The measure of success theses guys hold is based on how much their teammate stepped up, improved and touched success.

 These guys don’t feel they were coaxed or prodded into this way of being.  They all embrace the concept of team, good for all, and team before self as a matter of themselves.  The real magic of this team is that these guys all found themselves together.  A team of young men who think the same and act the same.  Not just  about running but about being good people and members of a group and a community.

They run together, train together and race together not to beat themselves or at best, the other team, but to see how much better they can help each other become.


This team is about the right guys being in the right place at the right time.
A team who got the team thing working as it is meant to work.  Not by choice or design to affect success, but because it is who they are.


This year, as I talked to many of the top athletes in the state, I began to see one thing above all very clearly.  This crop of athletes all really like each other, respect each other and thrive on each other.  I never once got the sense that any athlete was preparing for battle, more so , the attitude of expectation for upcoming races was more; “ I know they are really good, as good as we are, we don’t know who will win, any one of them can and has woe as we have, but we can hardly wait to race.  I know that running against others this good will make us all better and allow us to help each other get even faster.  Let the races begin!”