Often times, high schools in the same town can have fierce rivalries. That isn’t the case in Arlington — at least not with the cross country teams.
Lakewood and Arlington seldom compete against each other and are in different classifications. The Cougars are a 2A school and the Eagles are 3A.
A little over a week ago, both teams cheered each other on at the state cross country meet in Pasco. The cross country championships are one of the few WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association) state events that brings all classifications together at the same site. It was a good day for both teams, the Lakewood boys placed 10th and the Arlington boys placed fourth in their respective classifications. The Eagles’ fourth-place finish was the highest under head coach Mike Shierk.
This past weekend, at the Nike Cross Northwest in Boise, Shierk continued to coach, only this time he was coaching athletes from Lakewood, representing the Lakewood Cross Country Club.
In the past, WIAA rules have prohibited coaches from coaching their own kids after the state meet. Those rules changed recently, allowing coaches to coach their own kids for the two weeks following the state meet if the runners are competing in the Nike regionals or Nike BorderClash. Regionals and BorderClash are not affiliated with the high schools.
Rather then applying for the necessary waiver to continue to coach their own kids for the two events, Shierk and his coaching staff decided to swap places with Lakewood head coach Jeff Sowards.
“We decided that we’ve already got this thing going here and this is going to be a positive thing for the groups,” Shierk said. “We’ll re-evaluate next year how we want to approach it, but I think it’s just great.”
Jon Murray, an assistant coach at Arlington High School, coached the Lakewood Cross Country Club in last year’s Nike regionals. This year, with the Arlington Cross Country Club attending regionals as well, the coaches decided to take it one step further and trade places.
“It’s a new shot in the arm for the kids,” Shierk said. “We’ve been working with them the last six months, so to have coach Sowards in, a new fresh face, it’s a positive thing.”
Between the Lakewood and Arlington clubs, nearly 60 athletes traveled to Boise this past weekend. Both coaches hope that it was a good opportunity for the kids to build relationships with each other.
“The kids know each other, and are getting to know each other better,” Sowards said. “You find support in a sport where you are basically on your own. It’s you against the watch, or the challenge out there. It’s kind of cool to have friends that are five miles away from you that are doing the same thing and understanding the same things you are going through. It’s really cool to have that.”
And it isn’t just the athletes that support each other.
“We always cheer for the Lakewood kids and we always go over and try to congratulate them,” Shierk said. “Coach (Sowards) is the first one over to shake our hand after we’ve done well, or when we’ve not have a good race he lends his support.
“We’ve been cheering for them all along. We don’t have any rivalry with them because we’re in different classifications. For crying out loud, we’re in the same town. We go to the same stores. We embrace that.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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